March Matron

After seeing a stunning array of low-income housing (secondary to my occupation) . . .

and, not to overgeneralize . . .

but, based on occupants below the age of 30 . . . 

there appears to be a correlation between the lack of income and . . .

the purchase of items "As Seen On TV". 

The pile of still-in-the-box Thighmasters, Flowbees, Bedazzlers, the Clappers, Ginsu Knifes and Shake Weights was sadly predictable. 

Making late night TV the infomercial the conduit to his marketing dream . . .

Ron Popeil's company Ronco was founded in 1964. Offering the Veg-O-Matic, the Pocket Fisherman . . .

and fodder for Saturday Night Live's Bass-o-Matic, the company made bank in the early 1980's. 

Ron Popeil sold his company 40 years later for $55 million. Two years after the sale, Ronco, owing $32.7 million, filed for bankruptcy.

If you fear you will no longer be able to purchase authentic Ronco's Mr. Microphone, Popeil's Electric Food Dehydrator, Inside-the-Eggshell egg scrambler or GLH-9 (Great Looking Hair Formula #9) Hair-in-Can spray, an initial public offering was made earlier this year and Ronco may survive.

There is no such good news for Columbia-how-much-would-you-pay-for-this-collection-of-top-hits-House.  Built on the idea of an unbelievable number of hits for a penny with a commitment to buy an unbelievable number of hits for an unbelievable amount of money, they were responsible for 15% of all music sales in the mid 90's.

Selling $1.4 billion of repackaged tunes in 1994, they filed for bankruptcy in 2015.

However, there have obviously been some huge infomercial winners.

Sy Sperling, divorced and balding, created The Hair Club for Men in 1976. The company, now called The Hair Club, markets to all balding people and was sold in 2016 for $163.5 million. 

In 2013, Snuggie sold 30 million blankets with arms, making $500 million and BowFlex Home Gym, first seen in 1986, is worth over $1 billion.

Proactiv acne treatment brings in $1 billion annually and pays out $15 million annually to celebrity spokespeople including Jessica Simpson and Justin Bieber.

George Foreman is one of the biggest TV-peddling winners. Originally contracted to earn 45% of the company profits, he agreed to $137.5 million for his endorsement, with an additional $11 million for TV appearances . . .

Can't get more living the American Dream than that . . .

unless it is being the proud owner of a pyramid of such products.