- Image by Nevada Tumbleweed via Flickr
For the past month, I have seen a dead man pitching products on TV. No, I’m not talking about a promo for some horror movie or show. These are real commercials selling real products. The dead man is, of course, Billy Mays. Obviously, he was not dead when the commercials were filmed, but he is dead now.
Shortly after hearing about his death, I saw one of these ads. Oddly enough, the ad creeped me out a bit. After all, I knew the man trying to sell me some cell phone attachment was quite dead.
Interestingly, seeing movies that have dead actors in them has never given me that feeling. I wondered a bit about this, and I think that the difference is that Mays is appearing as himself in the commercials. While he might be playing a role, it is him there selling the product. In the case of the movies, the dead actor was playing a role, thus creating sort of a psychological buffer. To be specific, the character that the dead actor played has a virtual life of its own (and perhaps even virtual death) and continues to exist as a fictional being. In contrast, it is just Billy Mays, the dead man, whose recorded image is still pitching products. There is no buffer, no fictional being. Just someone I know is dead. Hence, the creepy feeling.
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SO GOOD I AM DEAD AND COME BACK FROM THE GRAVE TO SHOW YOU THIS INCREDIBLE OFFER!!!!!!
That is a great pitch
I WAS DEAD BUT CAME BACK FROM THE GRAVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT THIS INCREDIBLE PRODUCT AND SUPER OFFER!!!!!!!!!
That is a great pitch.
Film of dead people who are not portraying someone else is strangely affecting. Seeing Walter Cronkite in those retrospectives causes one to stop and consider the passage of time and the thin line between youth and age, life and death. One day you’re hawking Oxy-Clean; the next day you’re dead. That’s affecting, but not deeply emotional.
The closer we were emotionally to the deceased in life, the deeper the emotional response they cause when we view them on film after their deaths. I didn’t know Billy Mays for much accept his grating sales pitch. Seeing him do the same thing after death is definitely strange, but bears no emotional weight. Viewing films of my dead relatives—that’s something else entirely.
Agreed Biomass. Billy Mayes annoys me either way.
I just saw Vince the “Slap Chop” Guy for the first time!!!!!!
I believe Billy has a successor with real potential.
Lines like “You’ll love my nuts” should catapult him to shill stardom.
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Buy the “Slap Chop” and
“You’re gonna have an exciting life now.”
[Yeah, that’ll do it.]
“. . . you’re gonna slap away every day. . .” [Getting a little personal, aren’t you Vince?]
Among those who are prone to fall for such crap, and there seem to be more these days than ever, this should really work.