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Vince Offer

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Offer "Vince" Shlomi
Born
Offer Shlomi

(1964-04-25) April 25, 1964 (age 60)
Israel
CitizenshipAmerican
Known forInfomercial salesman

Offer "Vince" Shlomi (born April 25, 1964 in Israel),[1][2] also known as Vince Offer and "The ShamWow Guy"[1], is a writer, director, and comedian best known as the owner and pitchman of two sold-on-TV products: ShamWow! absorbent towels and the Slap Chop food chopper.[3]

The Underground Comedy Movie

Main article: The Underground Comedy Movie

In 1999 as a writer, director and actor, Offer released the The Underground Comedy Movie to scathing reviews. The New York Post said it "may be the least amusing comedy ever made," and Lawrence Van Gelder of The New York Times described the movie as "a series of sketches built around subjects like masturbation, defecation, alienation, urination, necrophilia, voyeurism, casual brutality, and mockery of the unfortunate." He added that Offer "makes the common mistake of equating the recognition of comic potential for comedy itself. For the successful, talent bridges the gap, but, here, it is absent."[4] DVDs of the film were marketed via television infomercial.

The film also led to several lawsuits. Offer filed a copyright-infringement suit against Peter and Bobby Farrelly and Twentieth Century Fox, claiming that 14 scenes in There's Something About Mary were taken from his own film. The Farrelly brothers responded, "We've never heard of him, we've never heard of his movie, and it's all a bunch of baloney."[5] The case was dismissed with prejudice on a motion for summary judgment by order of the court in 2000, and Twentieth Century Fox was awarded $66,336.92 in attorneys' fees.[6] In addition, Offer sued Anna Nicole Smith for breach of contract, alleging that Smith had agreed to appear in The Underground Comedy Movie but backed out, claiming it would hurt her career.[7]

In 2004, Offer, an ex-Scientologist, sued the Church of Scientology with the help of attorney Ford Greene. He alleged that the church had declared him a criminal and had urged its members to commit libel against him. Offer claimed that the church's actions caused him to lose a successful business, as many of his employees were Scientologists who quit upon learning of what the church did.[8]

Infomercial marketing

Offer, who funded The Underground Comedy Movie with his own money, had trouble selling it. Inspired by the success of Girls Gone Wild marketing, he decided to put the trailer on an infomercial, and sold 50,000 copies via direct order.[3]

ShamWow!

The success of the The Underground Comedy Movie infomercial suggested to Offer that he should sell something more mainstream. Drawing upon his experience working in flea markets, he decided in 2006 to market a cleaning product that he saw there, an absorbent towel that he called the ShamWow![3] [9]

The advertisement, filmed in the summer in 2007 with a budget of $20,000, became a popular hit.[3] Slate.com's Seth Stevenson praised Offer for his "impressive and subtle mastery of the pitchman's art" (with lines such as "you know the Germans always make good stuff"), and wondered if Offer's "abrasive manner might also mark a unique, new strategy in the annals of pitchdom." Stevenson compared Offer to earlier, "more upbeat" television pitchmen like Billy Mays and the Home Shopping Network hosts and concluded that Offer's "smooth-talking condescension" was more suited to the present zeitgeist than the "earnest fervor" of spokesmen like Billy Mays and Ron Popeil.[9]

Consumer Reports reported that the infomercial for ShamWow! initially featured Offer claiming that the product held "20 times its weight in liquid". Later, the infomercial was changed to Offer claiming the ShamWow! held "12 times its weight in liquid". It was then changed again to Offer claiming the ShamWow! held "10 times its weight in liquid". Consumer Reports did its own test on the ShamWow! product and found that it does indeed hold 10 times its weight in liquid but no more.[10]

Offer says that he's sold millions of the towels.[3] Notwithstanding his infomercial success, Offer says that "this is not my career" and that he considers himself in the film business.[3]

Pitchman Billy Mays had been promoting a similar product called Zorbeez two years prior to Vince Offer's ShamWow! product. In February 2009, Billy Mays publicly challenged Offer to a "pitch off" between their respective absorbent towel products. Popular Mechanics actually did compare the absorbancy of two towel products and declared ShamWow! the clear winner.[11]

Slap Chop

In December 2008, Offer, who had previously sold kitchen utensils at swap meets,[9] appeared in another infomercial for the kitchen utensil Slap Chop.[12] Offer's aggressiveness and use of double entendres like "you're gonna love my nuts" have earned him notoriety,[13] and, according to an AdWeek blog, helped make Offer "the man who could beat Billy Mays at his own game."

Arrest

On February 7, 2009, Offer was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida on a charge of felony battery after an altercation with a 26-year-old prostitute. Offer, who appears in police reports under his real name Vince Shlomi, contended that he struck the prostitute when she "bit his tongue and would not let go." Prosecutors later declined to file formal charges against either individual.[1][14]

Shortly after his arrest, Offer was lampooned on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live.[15] CollegeHumor also made fun of the arrest.[16]

DJ Steve Porter, lauded by DJ Times as one of "America's Best DJs", made a music video remix of the original Slap Chop infomercial, dubbing it "Rap Chop". After posting it to YouTube on April 25, 2009, it quickly spread over the internet to become famous. As of June 5, 2009, it has been viewed 2,565,756 times, reached #16 as the all time Top Rated, #3 all time Top Rated in Comedy, #14 Most Viewed and #1 Top Favorited. On May 15, 2009, Porter followed up his successful "Rap Chop" music video remix with a music video remix of the original ShamWow! infomercial, dubbing it "Jam Wow".

The ShamWoW! was parodied as the "ShamPow!" in the iCarly double episode iDate a Bad Boy.

References

  1. ^ a b c "ShamWow Guy In Slap, Chop Bust". The Smoking Gun. 2009-03-27.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ a b c d e f Rovell, Darren (2009-01-27). "First Interview with Vince from ShamWow!". CNBC.com. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
  4. ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence (1999-05-28). "FILM REVIEW; 15 Minutes (Count 'Em) Of Infamy". The New York Times. New York City, New York. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
  5. ^ Dave Karger, Suna Chang. Monitor: Celebrity News for October 16, 1998, Entertainment Weekly online.
  6. ^ Offer v. Farrelly, Case No. CV 98-7697 RAP(RCx) (C.D. Cal. Jan. 13, 2000); id. (Mar. 14, 2000).
  7. ^ "Anna Nicole Smith Sued By Producer". WENN. 2000-10-23. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
  8. ^ "Filmmaker Sues Church of Scientology". PR Newswire. 2004-05-11.
  9. ^ a b c Stevenson, Seth (2008-05-13). "Salesjerk; Meet the next great TV pitchman". Slate. The Slate Group. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
  10. ^ Consumer Reports: ShamWow fails to wow in Consumer Reports tests
  11. ^ Shamwow vs. Zorbeez: Which works Better? As Seen On TV Lab Test
  12. ^ Hoffman, Ken (2009-01-16). "Hoffman: A vote for Jay, against Conan". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2009-02-04. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Griner, David (2009-01-19). "How Vince Became an Infomercial Superstar". adfreak.com, an online publication of Adweek. Retrieved 2009-02-17. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ "ShamWow Guy arrested after hotel fight with woman: Smoking Gun". Ottawa Citizen. 2009-03-27. Retrieved 2009-03-28. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  15. ^ Jimmy Kimmel Live - Sham Wow Guy New Commercial - YouTube accessed April 4, 2009
  16. ^ http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1910326


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