Perhaps you’ve seen them--the Turbo Cooker (popular back in 2005), the Flipping Omelet Pan (also of 2005--and it's current cousin, the GT Express pan), the Special Spatula/Fork Combo (another 2005 goodie), the Pasta Pot, and the granddaddy of them all—the Rotisserie-- that's being hawked on late-night infomercial TV, and the very thought of these items actually drawing interest has me irked.
The marketing industry, and the Ronco-type boys specifically, are in the business of want creation, and it seems to be a very filthy-lucre-ative one, judging by the number of hapless idiots recommending this thing. Let's not leave out the perennial Billy Mays, Anthony Sullivan, or Cathy Mitchell (the current graduating class of want creation) by ANY means!
They develop a thing or service you really don't need, nor will in a thousand years, then devise an ad scheme that makes you think you'll die without this machine, because here's what it'll do for you and yours—supposedly save time or money for you.
The Turbo Cooker, for example, is a device originally born in Asia (the stacked bamboo steamer), and then re-invented here in the 40's or 50's in metal, called a bun warmer. Basically, it's a pot (squared off or rounded) that you can cook your meat in (or boil water), while the stacked layers of your meal above it cook through the use of steam that rises from the bottom layer--not a new concept by any means. The Dutch have a version of it called a Dutch oven; the Italians simply use their tall pasta-cooking pots for it. The Boy Scouts even use a version of it in tinfoil over hot coals or a BBQer.
Now, it's been Ronco-ized into a device the modern housewife cannot live without—as has the Omelet Pan, the Pasta Pot, the Spatula/Fork Combo, and the Rotisserie. These are the “singing bass” of kitchen devices
2008: Nowadays, we have the New Wave oven all over TV every weekend morning, not to mention anything George Foreman can come up with for his array of grills, and let's not leave out the floor steamer and super chamois! These people must specialize in renaming and re-marketing old stuff they found in some warehouse somewhere...like Mighty Putty (automotive Bondo), Mighty Mend-It (the fabric glue currently found in every sewing shop in America), or the Mighty Auger (a drill bit found in every Home Depot for mixing concrete in a wheelbarrow, but currently marketed for weed removal). What a way to clear out storage space and cargo containers--just put Billy Mays on the payroll and stand back!
With a little pre-planning, you can make just about any meal in 15 minutes or less (glamour not included)...meat can thaw overnight in the refrigerator, frozen veggies don't have to stay that way--they, too, can thaw overnight in the fridge. In their thawed state, they cook in very little time, and without tying up precious minutes of your time with constant supervision requirements.
Back to the Turbo Cooker: How much time are you able to buy for $49.99 or whatever the cost is? The ads say a meal can be prepared in 15 minutes. How often is this thing going to get used before you grow tired of it, and relegate it to your next yard sale? How long will it take you to actually pay off that $49.99 (now including interest) on the credit card bill? And how much did your last set of pots and pans cost...you know, the ones you STILL have and use regularly?
Meanwhile, these pots have been mass-produced in some sweat-shop labor country for about $1.00/apiece, and you are paying all the overhead for the marketing scheme, the shipping, the storage for QVC/HSN, the on-air hawking time, and countless other costs involved for a thing YOU didn't even want until it was paraded in front of you!
Now that you have your very own Turbo Cooker, guess what? It likely can't go in the dishwasher. It probably has to be cleaned by hand with a certain non-abrasive cleaner and non-stick-cookware scouring pad (additional costs you weren't aware of). And the all-important question: Where do I put it? My pot-and-pan cupboard or under-stove storage area is already FULL! Your time saved from cooking has just been transferred to the grocery store searching for that special cleaner and scouring pad, not to mention additional time at the sink.
Three months later, while shopping through your local Target or Wal-Mart store, you spot the very same device for about half what you dutifully sent in to the late-night highway robbers...and then, it hits you.
Six months later, while browsing yard sales, you notice lots of these devices on tables, along with other unwanted or broken-down appliances...priced at a mere .50 to $1.00. You think to yourself, "If they didn't want it, why did they buy it? Why is it out HERE? Boy, this didn’t take long--there must be something wrong with it." The yard sale hosts are then off to the NEXT big thing in late-night highway robbery, and you're standing there holding the wreckage of wants gone awry.
See something on TV and think you might want it? Wait six months and pick it up at a yard sale or thrift store.
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1 comments:
So true. I always try to make due with only basic kitchen utensils. Who need a Foremand grill when you have a good cast iron skillet. And who needs a food processor when you have a good chefs knife.
I have a few kitchen items people have gifted me over the years. Usually they get used a few times, then they're put in the pantry in the basement and a few years later sold at a yard sale. I'm glad I didn't buy any of them!
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