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ShamWow = ScamWow?
By JLP | January 15, 2009
I hate these stupid commercials.
Check out the video below. Fast forward to :37 and watch closely. The guy pours liquid all over the piece of carpet—so much that you can see it seeping out from underneath the carpet. He lifts the carpet up to show quite a lot of the liquid. Then, when he brings the ShamWow back to the carpet, all the liquid in front of the carpet is gone. Watch it closely and you’ll see what I mean.
If it looks to good to be true…
Topics: Miscellaneous | 28 Comments »
January 16th, 2009 at 1:23 am
Yes, I saw that on TV and that part defies logic.
But what do you expect from a SHAM-Wow?
January 16th, 2009 at 1:47 am
I love this guy. Would never buy the product though. Hilarious commercial and geniously bad marketing.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:49 am
Funny guy
I like trick with cola
January 16th, 2009 at 5:19 am
I’ve been sorely tempted by the Sham-wow…in last month’s Popular Mechanics, they did a review of various products available for sale on late-night commercials (including the Sham-Wow), and it actually turns out it doesn’t completely suck.
It doesn’t do EVERYTHING that they commercial promises, but it’s not nearly as much of a rip-off as some of the other products reviewed
January 16th, 2009 at 8:18 am
But he’s wearing a headset microphone. You have to believe a guy wearing one of those. It’s legit.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:26 am
Though it’s guilty of commercial exaggeration, it’s actually a pretty good product.
Regardless of the economics of using them, they flat out suck up liquids better than anything else I’ve tried.
To date it’s the only product I’ve been able to pick up that can blot up a pet’s “accident” out of the carpet without requiring shampooing afterwards.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:31 am
There’s an Infomercial Ratings website where users can rate all the infomercials and give reviews/comments. It got 2.5/5 on the website, as with the rating there are very mixed reviews.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:47 am
My favourite part of the commercial is his comment that it’s made in Germany…it must be good! But TBH, shammy clothes aren’t anything new, though they are truly magical at absorbing liquids.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Is it me or does that guy look like a rat? If rats could talk I think that’s what they would sound like.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Ken,
YES! He does look like a rat.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Nice catch. This is one of those seriously annoying commercial.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:30 am
DO NOT BUY THIS FROM TV!
This product has been around for more than 30 years. You should be able to buy these synthetic or fake chamois cloths for something like 50cents each at a dollar store. They do work pretty much like shown. There are 2 tricks to using them.
1) The cloth absorbs best when damp
2) Never put the cloth in the dryer.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:52 am
It’s an infomercial, so of course it’s a
scam. Why is this surprising?
Real products don’t get sold via infomercials.
It’s a simple rule.
January 16th, 2009 at 10:21 am
I had to watch it twice to “get it”. But it still looks very appealing.
January 16th, 2009 at 11:24 am
I also seen the Commercial and said the same thing.
You really cannot trust anything they sell on a tv commercial.
Commercial advertise what people want and not NEED
January 16th, 2009 at 11:56 am
“You really cannot trust anything they sell on a tv commercial.”
classic comment -so you’ve never bought a car, or shampoo, or a mcburger, or BEER for gods sake?
people are ssssooooooooooo stupid
January 16th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Gotta love this commercial though.
“Are you following me camera guy?!”
January 16th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
As someone else said, the product actually works pretty well and I’ve been happy with it. And just because there is an infomercial doesn’t mean it’s crap, you just need to be careful (as with any purchase).
January 16th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I really enjoy the testimonials at the end by people who are probably getting their sham-wows for the first time.
My wife got me these as a gag gift for Christmas, and they’re not horrible, but definitely not as advertised.
For more of Vince’s great work here’s the slap chop. You’re gonna love his nuts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUbWjIKxrrs
January 16th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Now this guy has started hawking a vegetable chopper.
January 16th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I have 27 of these I absolutely love them. They are great for when I’m giving my twins juice glasses or when I have to shower my walls. It really doesn’t get better than this and like he says, it’s made in Germany.
January 16th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
This post made my day!
Seriously, I have seen that commercial twice in the last month and my problem has always been the hideous name of the product…now I know there’s more!!
January 17th, 2009 at 12:48 am
Craig -
Correction: Real products don’t get sold at normal retail prices via infomercials.
On the other hand, if you take a dollar store $1 product and you sell it at $19.95 via infomercial, you can rip off a vast untapped market of (the majority of) people who don’t shop at dollar stores.
January 19th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I have used ShamWow and it works. Maybe not 100% like in the commercial but 89% like that.
For grins, we purchased the Sham Wow right before Christmas. I figured I would use it all holiday season cleaning the kitchen meal after meal. I put it through all the tests I could think of. It soaks up anything I throw this on.
I used the orange one to clean up a bottle of red wine my dog broke while playing ball. It took 2 cycles of soaking up and wringing out with a final wipe down at the end.
So far, it works better than cotton or micro-fiber kitchen towels.
Just my $0.02. YMMV
January 25th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I am bothered when he says “Hey you are going to spend $20 a month on paper towels anyway …”
Who spends $20 a month on paper towels?
March 6th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
The bait and switch is definitely in play during this commercial however two things stand out.
1. I have seen these guys work at state fairs and they do the exact same demo right in front of you and the result is pretty much the same. They don’t swap the carpet out. What they do do is use a very rugged piece of carpet that allows the Shammy to soak up the liquid fast. Try it on your regular living room carpet or matted ones and it’s nowhere near as easy.
2. I have used these before and yes they do work much better than paper towels.
So I will live with the stupid commercial.
April 8th, 2009 at 7:42 am
This is based on the video by Boycott Watch, http://www.BoycottWatch.com which busted this months before you did. see that video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKojuhtcTZ0
November 5th, 2009 at 1:54 am
I bought a shamwow kit a few weeks ago … i thought it worked well … but today in a DOLLAR STORE … I realized that in a packaged i’ve seen for years … was the exacte same thing as the Shamwow for 1$ made in germany and everything !! So it true … its a good product … but ou can get it for 1$ a piece .