Are Infomercials Effective?

By: Richard Romando
Submitted: 2007-01-17 15:37:14
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Infomercials began to blossom in 1984 in U.S. They are designed in such a way that viewers believe they are watching a program like an investigative news report. The increasing reliance of the companies on this form of promoting a product can be gauged by flipping through the channels that are full of infomercials.

Infomercials may prove effective to a certain extent. It is a sophisticated attempt of initiating a change in consumer behavior. Unlike regular commercials that do not give the viewers sufficient time to believe in what is portrayed, the half an hour infomercial leaves less room for viewers to resist temptation. Thus, somewhat false and unsubstantiated claims made in these infomercials influence viewers. It becomes difficult for them to believe that these infomercials are nothing more than paid advertisements.

This is evident from the increase in consumer demand for fitness equipments, health and beauty products, self-help and motivational products and also by the proliferation in the number of outlets selling products reinforced by people in the infomercials.

Infomercials can be effective as it is a form of direct response marketing. It is a tool that enables a manufacturer to measure whether his product, pricing and even his approach is working or not. A manufacturer can in a matter of hours and at a fraction of the cost can gauge the impact on the buyers. This is in sharp contrast to the previous manufacturers who had to create their product, wait till the products get into the stores and then only launch costly nationwide ad camp on popular T.V shows.

However, infomercials might not prove productive on all occasions. They can be unnerving for some consumers who consider these infomercials to be gimmicks and a way of misleading them. They find the claims made by these infomercials as totally unfounded and are not really attracted by the repeated reinforcement made by them. For this type of viewers, infomercials have a lesser effect than regular commercials because the viewers prefer more objective and short commercials to subjective and rather lengthy infomercials.

Infomercials can prove a double-edged sword, depending on the way they are produced and presented and also the extent to which they are authentic and convincing.

Article source: Expert Articles