Ron Popeil
Pioneer of the ‘infomercial’ who made a fortune selling people gadgets they did not need
RON POPEIL, the self-styled “Greatest salesman of the [20th] Century”, who has died aged 86, was the founder of Ronco, purveyor of products with brand names often ending in “O-matic”, that you never knew you needed – and probably discovered, too late, that you did not need.
His career began working for his father Samuel, a Chicago-based manufacturer of run-of-the-mill kitchen devices who had developed a sideline as an inventor of gadgets such as the Citrex juice extractor, the Toastette sandwich-pie maker and the Slice-a-way cutting board.
Samuel also created the Chop-o-matic, an onion-chopper employing a rotating, spring-loaded steel blade. At first, the Popeils sold the Chop-o-matic through live demonstrations at flea markets, dime stores and at Woolworth’s. But in 1958 Ron began selling the gadget on television.
He made a five-minute commercial, reprising his sing-song street-vendor pitch: “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to show you the greatest kitchen appliance ever made … If you order right now, the price is not $5.98, but $3.98. That’s right, $3.98. As a special bonus, you will receive with your Chop-o-matic at no additional charge a valuable recipe book: 50 Secret Recipes by World Famous Chefs.”
Sales boomed and the O-matic range grew to include the Dial-o-matic slicer, the Whip-o-matic frothy drink mixer and the Mince-o-matic grinder.
The Popeils hit the jackpot with the Veg-o-matic, launched in 1963, “The only appliance worldwide that can slice whole, firm tomatoes in one stroke, with every seed in place”, for which Ron coined what became his catchphrase: “But wait, there’s more!!!”
The following year he founded Ronco, which went on to market hundreds of “amazing” gadgets to television audiences around the world, pioneering what became known as “infomercials” and, on packaging and in the print media, puffs featuring the phrase “As seen on TV”.
The Veg-o-matic’s closest rival in fame was the Ronco Pocket Fisherman of 1972 (“the biggest fishing invention since the hook … and still only $19.95!”) – a spincasting rod that folded down to pocket size.
Other Ronco products included an Inside-the-shell Electric Egg Scrambler (“Gets rid of those slimy egg whites in your scrambled eggs”); GLH-9 [Great Looking Hair], spray-on hair-in-a-can, guaranteed to get rid of bald spots; the Ronco Rhinestone Stud Setter (“changes everyday clothing into exciting fashions”); the Buttoneer, which fixed buttons to clothes with plastic staples; Mr Microphone, a wireless mic that played through your radio; and the Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ, which, though marketed under the catchphrase “Set it and forget it”, came with an instruction book advising users to do no such thing.
The rotisserie was said to have racked up sales worth more than $1 billion, and Popeil claimed to have achieved a world record in 2000 by selling more than $1 million-worth during a one-hour live demonstration on the QVC channel.
In Britain, for more than a decade, Ronco was a leading purveyor of compilation pop albums, consisting of licenced hits from major record companies crammed on to 10-tracks-a-side LPS in cheap jackets. Sound reproduction was what one critic called “public convenience standard”, and songs often had to be faded out early to fit.
For those who bought them Ronco also sold a record vacuum which claimed to clean LPS, but became known as the “Ronco Record Ruiner” for its habit of scraping bits of grit across the vinyl.
Ronco ads were so successful they were frequently spoofed by comedians, most famously by Dan Aykroyd on Saturday Night Live, promoting what he called the “Bass-omatic”, a blender that could turn a whole fish into a revolting brown sludge.
But to Popeil any publicity was good publicity and he played along with the jokes.
The younger of two brothers, Ronald Martin Popeil was born on May 3 1935 in the New York Bronx, and by his own account had a miserable childhood. After his parents divorced when he was three, he and his brother were shunted between foster homes and his constantly quarrelling paternal grandparents in Miami.
When he was 13 he moved to Chicago to work at Popeil Brothers, the factory founded by his father and an uncle in 1939, and found he had flair as a salesman. Aged 16 he began working the fair circuit and later peddled wares in Woolworth’s.
While his father was said to be willing to lend his son money, once Ron went into business on his own he reportedly cut off all contact.
A recession in the early 1980s affected sales and Ronco went into liquidation in 1984. But Popeil bounced back and in 2005 sold the company for $55 million. He continued to develop and market inventions through Ron’s Enterprises, later creations including Popeil’s 5-in-1 Turkey Fryer (“It boils eggs! It steams clams and lobsters! It bakes bread! And best of all, it can fry a 15-pound turkey in 46 minutes!”).
In 1995 he published his autobiography,