Last week I wrote about As Seen On TV kitchen products, and this week is more of the same–although with a twist.  Last week I talked about getting ready for holiday cooking with the Butterball Indoor Electric Turkey Fryer, but this week, I have a more pressing cooking engagement on my mind.  This weekend I’ll be throwing a birthday party.  A 40th birthday party.  Which means I’ll have to make cake.  Which means I need some As Seen On TV bakeware, pronto.  But I’ll get to that in a minute.

See, because this is a 40th birthday party, we’ve decided to go with an 80′s theme.  It’s like Halloween, only earlier and for old people.  Anyway, I’ve been trying to find ways to make this a truly memorable party, even though the guest of honor may soon begin losing his memory as he gets really, really old.

First, I need a costume.  By costume,  I mean I need to raid my clothing in storage to see if anything still fits.  I considered wearing a fitness getup like one from a 1980′s infomercial exercise video:

Then I remembered that no one wants to see me in a leotard.

I know we’re going to have an 80′s soundtrack playing all night, and so I thought one of the Time Life Music compilations might just fit the bill for our evening of New Wave, One Hit Wonders, and Hair Bands.

I thought maybe I could practice some sweet dance moves with the 1980′s infomercial break dance tutorial by Alfonso Ribeiro, “Pop and Lock:”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPWzDsS2oaw

Then I remembered the only thing I’m likely to break is a hip.

So I’m settling for making a Pac Man cake.  I figure it can’t be to hard to mess up, right?  I mean, I bake a round cake, cut out a wedge, and frost it yellow.  What could possibly go wrong?

Except I decided that if I have a Pac Man, I need a Ghost.  So . . . okay.  I make a rectangle cake and cut it into the shape of a Pac Man Ghost, then frost it pink or blue.  Okay.  I think I’ve still got it.  No problem.

Except I decided that if I have a Pac Man and a Ghost, then I need some Power Pellets to connect them.  Why do I do this to myself?

Luckily, the Power Pellets should be about the easiest part of this cake.  Maybe even easier than Pac Man, because I can almost guarantee I won’t be able to frost it smoothly and there will be crumbs all in the icing.  Why am I convinced the Power Pellets will be so easy?  Because I’m making CAKE POPS.

Now, traditionally, cake pops or cake balls are simple but time consuming.  They involve baking a cake, crumbling it, mixing in frosting, chilling, rolling a bazillion balls, dipping, more chilling . . . you get the picture.  But even though I keep adding to my party t0-do list, I’m not one for time consuming projects.

Enter Bake Pop and Tasty Top Cake Pops.  These two new As Seen On TV cake pop baking pans will let me make perfectly round Power Pellets without any crumbling or rolling.  I can just pour the cake batter into the bakeware, bake it, and I’ll have the most enviable (and delicious) Power Pellets around.

Now–it’s off to find a crimper and some industrial strength hairspray.  It’ll be, like, totally awesome.

Finally . . . finally . . . we’ve had a break in the weather.  No longer are our temperatures reaching triple digits, but we’ve been blessed with gorgeous, sunny days with highs in the low 80s.  I’ve seen a few people jump the gun a bit and venture out in their furry boots and scarves, but these sweaty fashionistas should perhaps wait until it gets really cold–like 65–to start pulling out their winter wear.

Though it’s not quite time for winter clothes yet,Autumn is indeed just around the corner.  In fact, the first day of Fall is only two days away.  That means you only have a few days to enjoy the start of the cooler season before you have to get wrapped up in the holiday frenzy.  After all, there are only 94 days until Christmas and only 64 until Thanksgiving.  It is time to get a jump on your holiday cooking with some of the many As Seen On TV kitchen products available to make your food prep easier and your recipes more delicious.

The first holiday approaching us is Halloween, and though it doesn’t require nearly the kitchen effort of all-out-gorgefests like Thanksgiving, you will need some fun, spooky goodies if there are little ghosts and goblins running around your house.  Make show-stopping treats without turning into a witch with Tasty Top Cake Pops.  Cake pops, cake truffles, and cake balls are all the rage right now, but they are traditionally very time consuming to make.  Tasty Top Cake Pops let you make a lighter, fluffier version quickly and easily.  Just pour any batter into the Cake Pops bakeware, and perfectly round cake pops will bake.  Insert the sticks and decorate.  For Halloween, try orange frosting to make jack-o-lantern cake pops, white frosting to make ghosts or skulls, and green for a witch.  Top the witch with a “hat” made of a chocolate cookie and a chocolate kiss candy.

Once your trick-or-treaters have come and gone, it’s time to think about planning your Thanksgiving menu.  Integral to almost any American Thanksgiving dinner is a moist, tender, golden turkey.  Unfortunately, too many of us suffer through overcooked turkey, or–as I like to call it–”turkey jerky.”  Deep fried turkey has become a popular way to prepare the centerpiece of the meal, but traditionally, deep frying a turkey has been a task fraught with peril.  Hot oil and open flames, just don’t mix, as we discovered in an earlier post about exploding turkeys.

Of course, As Seen On TV cooking products come to the rescue with the Butterball Indoor Electric Turkey Fryer.  The Butterball Fryer lets you deep fry a turkey without the hazard, removing the open flame and allowing you to cook indoors.  Perfect turkey can be yours with the Butterball Indoor Turkey Fryer, sparing your guests from turkey jerky and sparing you from your mother-in-law’s snide comments about your cooking ability.

What are you waiting for?   The countdown to the holidays is well underway!

We’ve talked before about how celebrity pitchmen help sell infomercial products by adding a famous face and endorsement to a variety of products.  We’ve also talked about how the growing popularity of mixed martial arts has influenced As Seen On TV exercise equipment and spawned MMA champion endorsements from the fighters who pin their names on the latest fitness products.  This post will take each of those topics and combine them to focus on the trend of professional athletes who act as infomercial pitchmen.

For the most parts, athletes lend their names and images to fitness products, sports training equipment, exercise videos, and even kitchen products.  They may simply lend a testimonial as endorsement or they may allow their name or image to be used in conjunction with the product–even as a part of the product name.  Other professional athletes act as infomercial pitchmen for the product, and some take it a step further, endorsing and pitching their own products.

Some professional athletes and the As Seen On TV kitchen products or exercise products with which they are associated follow:

• Hulk Hogan (WWE) – Hulk Hogan Ultimate Grill
• George Foreman (Boxing) – George Foreman’s Everyday and More Cleaner
• Randy Couture (MMA) – Tower 200
• Chuck Liddell (MMA) – JackRack
• Andrew Bynum (NBA) – Celebrity Sweat Complete Exclusive Sports Workout Edition
• Carlos Boozer (NBA) – Celebrity Sweat Complete Exclusive Sports Workout Edition
• Travis Limauro (MMA) - Muscle Warfare Bodybuilding Supplements
• Georges St. Pierre (MMA) – Rip60
• Terrell Owens (NFL) – NOX360 Muscle Building Supplement

Obviously, finding a famous athlete to promote any product geared toward the consumer’s health, fitness, or nutrition is a good idea.  After all, who is going to want to use exercise equipment endorsed by Kevin James as opposed to Kevin Durant?

Which professional athlete’s endorsement would you most trust in purchasing As Seen On TV fitness products?

For nearly 30 years, AJ Khubani, CEO of infomercial leader Telebrands, has had a keen eye for products that will sell well through Direct Response Television Marketing.  Khubani got his start marketing products including an ultrasonic flea collar, the Easy Cycle, and AmberVision sunglasses.  He found particular success from the AmberVision glasses, selling over 15 million pair and launching a business that stands at the forefront of As Seen On TV marketing.

How has Khubani remained so successful during the past 28 years, including achieving record profits during an economic recession?  According to colleagues and industry experts, Khubani has an uncanny ability to spot the inventions that will take off.  Khubani himself says that he can spot inventions that will take off “in about a minute.”  He says the best As Seen On TV products are the ones that “solve common problems, sell for between $9.99 and $19.99, and make people think, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’”

In fact, these are the exact instructions Telebrands issues to inventors seeking to propose the hot new informercial items at one of Telebrands’ Inventors Days.  The Telebrands blog states:

I said it before and I’ll say it again… to be considered as a viable TeleBrands product…

1. It needs to solve a common problem
2. It has to demonstrate well on TV
3. It has to be a good deal (coming in at either $9.95 or $19.95)

The invention may otherwise be a good idea, but if it doesn’t meet the three above criteria, it doesn’t meet the “Khubani cut.”

Inventors who feel their products may be the next big thing, like the Ped Egg (of which Telebrands sold more than $300 millon worth by 2009), can show up for one of Khubani’s periodic “Inventors Days” to pitch their ideas before a panel of judges that includes the man himself, his wife, and even his son’s math tutor.   Though Khubani says he can spot a good product in a minute, inventors get up to five minutes to pitch their products.

In addition to Khubani’s instinct for products that will sell well through DRTV marketing, he also thinks his products fill a certain niche.  With everybody focusing on high tech products these days, Khubani says, “somebody has got to focus on low-tech.”  He goes on to explain:

The products I sell need to deliver on the promise of being simple solutions for everyday problems. When I get pitched a product, I like to be able to understand it in the first five seconds. Like the Windshield Wonder: What could be more low-tech than a 16-inch plastic rod with microcloth on the end? We’ve sold seven million.

Khubani estimates that for every hundred products pitched to Telebrands, ten are selected for testing.  Of those ten, only one will actually make it to the infomercial airwaves.  But when that one hits, boy does it hit.  Thanks to Khubani’s great instincts, leadership, and marketing savvy, Telebrands is a $1 billion As Seen On TV empire.