Pitchmen

First Mad Men, then Trust Me, now Pitchmen. The first two shows are dramas that give an impression of what the advertising industry is like; one takes place in the 50s and 60s, and the other is in the present day. Pitchmen, however, is a series on the Discovery channel that features Billy Mays and Anthony "Sully" Sullivan, two of the most famous infomercial "pitchmen," and it captures a behind-the-scenes look on how they take the inventions and innovations of everyday people and sale them for 19.99 (or whatever the price is).

It's pretty interesting because I've learned that demonstration advertising can be some of the most effective advertising (think about the commercials for Toyota Tundra, the iPhone, or ShamWOW). Infomercials are pretty corny, and it can be annoying having Billy Mays screaming at you about the power Oxy Clean...but the commercials are pretty successful (at selling at least). I just think advertising commercials could be so much better if the effectiveness of infomercial demonstrations can be tied in with more creativity.