Amateur Megalomania

I admit I lead a bit of a sheltered life when it comes to ordinary things like grocery shopping.  I wouldn’t pull a George H.W. Bush moment at the site of an electronic price scanner, but I’m not really in tune with the latest and greatest products to hit the grocery shelf.  So forgive me if I’m stirring up old, settled news.

I made a run to the store for my wife last week, giving her some more time to rest at home.  As I’m scanning her list, I see ‘Oxyclean Powder’.  I pause, trying to map the product to an image…container color, size, logo?  All I can see is this large, aggressively enthusiastic man gesturing wildly while screaming at me about cleaning miracles.

It all comes together and I realize Oxyclean is one of those ‘buy our crap because we made a commercial, and surely anything you see in a commercial is a good product’ products.

And now I can buy this at the grocery store?  Without having to wait four to six weeks or pay in three easy installments (wait, but there’s more!)?

When did this happen?  I’m not used to seeing TV products like this migrating to respectability.  My wife swears it’s a great product, but if it was so great, why do they need Billy Mays hawking it?

And for the kicker, when I get to the grocery store, I get the very last tub of product sitting alone in this gaping hole on the shelf.  According to the equally bewildered stock clerk nearby, they can’t keep the stuff on the shelf.

Go figure.

Filed under: Grab Bag