This episode was chosen by a poll on Twitter. The poll had Infomercial, Infotainment, Bennifer, and Brangelina. The latter two had zero votes - so I someone is trying to tell me something.

 

On to the winner -Infomercial.

 

"Information" plus "Commercial." is actually a more recent version of an earlier portmanteau - "Advertorial" as in "advertisement" and "editorial." which Merriam Webster dates back to 1946.

Most of us have been up late at night or at different periods of the day only to see things that will quote unquote make our lives easier. This portmanteau is so commonly used that we just throw it around. But what is an infomercial? Is is ShamWow? Is it a Ron Popiel product so wonderfully covered by Weird Al Yankovic in his song "Mr. Popeil?"

Or can it even be used by a presidential candidate? Well.... Yes.

The first known informercial was Vitamix blender in 1949 however they didn't really catch on because in the 1960s, the Federal Communications Commission FCC and the National Association of Broadcasters NAB set limits on the number of commercial minutes allowed per hour of programming.

They also required that all commercials be clearly identified as such. Many of today's infomercials would not meet that standard.

However many advertisers used cable as an outlet as the restrictions were not applied there.

Things started to turn in 1979 when the Justice Department sued the NAB in US V. National Association of Broadcasters

It was an anti-trust claim and stated that limitations allowed commercial minutes per hour inflated prices by artificially restricting airtime availability.

Then in 1981 The FCC lifted the prohibition on program-length advertisements on radio followed by the NAB dropping its code in 1982. Infomercials fully returned to broadcast TV in 1984 after President Ronald Reagan's FCC lifted its restrictions on the amount of commercial time permitted during the broadcast day.

Over the years infomercials have been used to sell all kinds of products - especially expensive items that take more time to justify price.

They also have been used for televangelists - another portmanteau, psychics, get-rich quick schemes, and even Ross Perot used them in 1992 and again in 1996 for his presidential campaigns.

 

Informercials have become so common that they even have their own networks - Corner Store TV, Access Television Network and GRTV as well as the shopping networks like QVC and the Home Shopping Network.

 

Every hour of every day has an infomercial playing somewhere and they don't appear to be going away anytime soon.

 

Resources

Mr Popeil https://youtu.be/9BX56syrmWQ

Vitamix Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ0uz6YdTcM

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-exactly-is-an-informercial-38542

https://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/infomercial/98718

https://www.justice.gov/atr/case/us-v-national-association-broadcasters