Infomercial Fails

2009Video compilation / animated GIF seriesclassic

Also known as: Infomercial Problems · Doing It Wrong · As Seen on TV Fails

Infomercial Fails is a 2009 video-compilation meme from Everything Is Terrible's Funny or Die montage, featuring infomercial actors absurdly struggling with basic everyday tasks like cracking eggs or pouring drinks.

Infomercial Fails are compilations of clips from television infomercials showing actors hilariously struggling with basic everyday tasks like cracking eggs, using cling wrap, or pouring drinks. The meme originated in September 2009 when Everything Is Terrible uploaded the first dedicated montage to Funny or Die, and it exploded across Reddit, Imgur, and Tumblr through 2012, spawning the massively popular subreddit r/wheredidthesodago.

infomercial memesfail memesadvertising memesgif memesearly 2010s memes

Overview

Infomercial Fails center on the absurd "problem" segments that open TV infomercials. Before pitching their product, these commercials show actors failing spectacularly at simple household tasks: spilling entire bowls of food, struggling to operate blankets, dropping eggs directly onto burner plates, or somehow sending a hammer straight through drywall8. The exaggerated incompetence is meant to convince viewers they need whatever gadget is being sold, but stripped of context, the clips look like slapstick comedy performed by people who've never encountered basic household objects before.

The format typically circulates as either supercut compilation videos set to music or as individual animated GIFs shared out of context. The black-and-white "before" segments, where actors look miserable and defeated by everyday life, are especially popular1.

Infomercials themselves date back decades. The word was coined in the 1980s by entertainment mogul Paul Ruffino, and the first infomercial aired in 1982, selling hair growth products7. But the internet's fascination with their unintentional comedy started on September 3, 2009, when the comedy collective Everything Is Terrible uploaded a montage to Funny or Die dedicated to the over-the-top struggles of infomercial actors6. The video compiled the most ridiculous "before" segments into a concentrated dose of incompetence. Blog commenters immediately latched onto the absurdity, with one noting they had "always wanted" to see someone compile these clips1.

On April 18, 2010, filmmaker Derek Lieu uploaded a second compilation to YouTube titled "As Seen on TV: A Tribute to Doing It Wrong"6. Lieu set the clips to the Beatles song "Help!", turning the montage into something closer to a music video. By February 2013, that video had picked up over 2 million views6. The food blog Serious Eats spotlighted both compilations the same month Lieu's video went up6.

Origin & Background

Platform
Funny or Die (first montage), YouTube / Reddit (viral spread)
Key People
Everything Is Terrible, Derek Lieu
Date
2009

Infomercials themselves date back decades. The word was coined in the 1980s by entertainment mogul Paul Ruffino, and the first infomercial aired in 1982, selling hair growth products. But the internet's fascination with their unintentional comedy started on September 3, 2009, when the comedy collective Everything Is Terrible uploaded a montage to Funny or Die dedicated to the over-the-top struggles of infomercial actors. The video compiled the most ridiculous "before" segments into a concentrated dose of incompetence. Blog commenters immediately latched onto the absurdity, with one noting they had "always wanted" to see someone compile these clips.

On April 18, 2010, filmmaker Derek Lieu uploaded a second compilation to YouTube titled "As Seen on TV: A Tribute to Doing It Wrong". Lieu set the clips to the Beatles song "Help!", turning the montage into something closer to a music video. By February 2013, that video had picked up over 2 million views. The food blog Serious Eats spotlighted both compilations the same month Lieu's video went up.

How It Spread

Through 2011, Infomercial Fail compilations spread to sites like Pleated Jeans, Neatorama, and I Waste So Much Time. Neatorama's write-up captured the collective disbelief well, asking "how hard is cling wrap, really?"

January 2012 brought a dedicated Tumblr blog called "Infomercial Problems," which curated videos of the bizarre behavior on display in these commercials. By August that year, the Huffington Post ran a feature on infomercial fails, describing the pleasure of watching salespeople get "injured, insulted and otherwise humiliated in the name of selling useless knick-knacks on TV". That same month, someone created an Imgur album of 141 infomercial GIFs, and a thread popped up on 4chan's /wsg/ (Work-Safe GIF) board asking for more.

September 26, 2012 was a big day for the meme. Both Uproxx and BuzzFeed published major compilations. BuzzFeed's piece, titled "33 Infomercial Characters Who Need To Get Their Shit Together," catalogued individual GIFs with deadpan captions like "This woman who doesn't understand cling wrap" and "This woman giving up on cooking".

The real turning point came on October 21, 2012, when a GIF of a family wildly overreacting to a mother spilling soda hit Reddit's r/funny, pulling in over 4,700 upvotes and 600 comments. The very next day, the subreddit r/wheredidthesodago launched, named after the spilled soda GIF. The sub was dedicated entirely to out-of-context infomercial moments. Within three months it had over 125,000 subscribers. A December 2012 GIF collection on r/Funny scored another 4,400 upvotes. By February 2013, YouTube had more than 1,700 results for "bad infomercial".

How to Use This Meme

The Infomercial Fails format works in a few ways:

- GIF sharing: Pull a clip of someone hilariously failing at a mundane task and share it as a reaction GIF. Works well when someone describes struggling with something that should be simple. The black-and-white "frustrated" clips are popular standalone reactions. - Compilation videos: Edit together multiple clips, often set to ironic music. Derek Lieu's Beatles "Help!" soundtrack set the template. - Out-of-context captioning: Take a single infomercial moment and add a caption that reframes it. The r/wheredidthesodago community typically posts GIFs with absurd fictional backstories for what's happening on screen. - Real-life comparison: When someone botches a simple task, calling it an "infomercial fail" or saying they "infomercial failed" at something is common shorthand.

Cultural Impact

The Urban Dictionary entry for Infomercial Fails defines the concept as failing "amazingly badly at a basic or simple task," using examples like "cracking an egg into a bowl and instead splattering egg and crushed shell pieces all over everything within three feet". The term crossed over into everyday slang for comedic incompetence.

The r/wheredidthesodago subreddit turned what could have been a passing joke into a lasting community with its own creative format, where users write elaborate fake contexts for the clips. The subreddit's rapid growth to 125,000 subscribers in just three months showed real appetite for the humor.

Major outlets covered the trend: HuffPost called it "the Coke Zero of schadenfreude", while Neatorama's commenters described imitating the ineptness of infomercial actors during real household chores. Everything Is Terrible's original compilation drew passionate responses, with one commenter claiming they'd marry anyone who made exactly this kind of video.

Fun Facts

The very first filmed-for-TV infomercial was for a Vitamix blender in 1949. It ran at 12:30 a.m. on WOR-TV and pulled 130 orders by 1:10 a.m.

The 4chan thread requesting infomercial GIFs appeared on the /wsg/ (Work-Safe GIF) board, one of the few SFW boards on the site.

One commenter on the Everything Is Terrible blog proposed marriage to the video's creator, saying they had literally been waiting for someone to make this exact compilation.

The infomercial industry is worth over $200 billion globally.

Derivatives & Variations

r/wheredidthesodago

— Reddit community launched October 22, 2012, dedicated to recontextualizing infomercial clips with absurd captions and backstories. Hit 125,000 subscribers in under three months[6].

Infomercial Problems

— A single-topic Tumblr blog launched January 2012, curating the strangest infomercial moments[6].

"As Seen on TV: A Tribute to Doing It Wrong"

— Derek Lieu's April 2010 YouTube supercut set to the Beatles' "Help!", reaching 2 million+ views[6].

Flex Tape memes

— JonTron's review of a Flex Tape infomercial spawned its own meme ecosystem, building on the broader tradition of laughing at infomercial absurdity[5].

Frequently Asked Questions

Infomercial Fails

2009Video compilation / animated GIF seriesclassic

Also known as: Infomercial Problems · Doing It Wrong · As Seen on TV Fails

Infomercial Fails is a 2009 video-compilation meme from Everything Is Terrible's Funny or Die montage, featuring infomercial actors absurdly struggling with basic everyday tasks like cracking eggs or pouring drinks.

Infomercial Fails are compilations of clips from television infomercials showing actors hilariously struggling with basic everyday tasks like cracking eggs, using cling wrap, or pouring drinks. The meme originated in September 2009 when Everything Is Terrible uploaded the first dedicated montage to Funny or Die, and it exploded across Reddit, Imgur, and Tumblr through 2012, spawning the massively popular subreddit r/wheredidthesodago.

infomercial memes fail memes advertising memes gif memes early 2010s memes

Overview

Infomercial Fails center on the absurd "problem" segments that open TV infomercials. Before pitching their product, these commercials show actors failing spectacularly at simple household tasks: spilling entire bowls of food, struggling to operate blankets, dropping eggs directly onto burner plates, or somehow sending a hammer straight through drywall. The exaggerated incompetence is meant to convince viewers they need whatever gadget is being sold, but stripped of context, the clips look like slapstick comedy performed by people who've never encountered basic household objects before.

The format typically circulates as either supercut compilation videos set to music or as individual animated GIFs shared out of context. The black-and-white "before" segments, where actors look miserable and defeated by everyday life, are especially popular.

Infomercials themselves date back decades. The word was coined in the 1980s by entertainment mogul Paul Ruffino, and the first infomercial aired in 1982, selling hair growth products. But the internet's fascination with their unintentional comedy started on September 3, 2009, when the comedy collective Everything Is Terrible uploaded a montage to Funny or Die dedicated to the over-the-top struggles of infomercial actors. The video compiled the most ridiculous "before" segments into a concentrated dose of incompetence. Blog commenters immediately latched onto the absurdity, with one noting they had "always wanted" to see someone compile these clips.

On April 18, 2010, filmmaker Derek Lieu uploaded a second compilation to YouTube titled "As Seen on TV: A Tribute to Doing It Wrong". Lieu set the clips to the Beatles song "Help!", turning the montage into something closer to a music video. By February 2013, that video had picked up over 2 million views. The food blog Serious Eats spotlighted both compilations the same month Lieu's video went up.

Origin & Background

Platform
Funny or Die (first montage), YouTube / Reddit (viral spread)
Key People
Everything Is Terrible, Derek Lieu
Date
2009

Infomercials themselves date back decades. The word was coined in the 1980s by entertainment mogul Paul Ruffino, and the first infomercial aired in 1982, selling hair growth products. But the internet's fascination with their unintentional comedy started on September 3, 2009, when the comedy collective Everything Is Terrible uploaded a montage to Funny or Die dedicated to the over-the-top struggles of infomercial actors. The video compiled the most ridiculous "before" segments into a concentrated dose of incompetence. Blog commenters immediately latched onto the absurdity, with one noting they had "always wanted" to see someone compile these clips.

On April 18, 2010, filmmaker Derek Lieu uploaded a second compilation to YouTube titled "As Seen on TV: A Tribute to Doing It Wrong". Lieu set the clips to the Beatles song "Help!", turning the montage into something closer to a music video. By February 2013, that video had picked up over 2 million views. The food blog Serious Eats spotlighted both compilations the same month Lieu's video went up.

How It Spread

Through 2011, Infomercial Fail compilations spread to sites like Pleated Jeans, Neatorama, and I Waste So Much Time. Neatorama's write-up captured the collective disbelief well, asking "how hard is cling wrap, really?"

January 2012 brought a dedicated Tumblr blog called "Infomercial Problems," which curated videos of the bizarre behavior on display in these commercials. By August that year, the Huffington Post ran a feature on infomercial fails, describing the pleasure of watching salespeople get "injured, insulted and otherwise humiliated in the name of selling useless knick-knacks on TV". That same month, someone created an Imgur album of 141 infomercial GIFs, and a thread popped up on 4chan's /wsg/ (Work-Safe GIF) board asking for more.

September 26, 2012 was a big day for the meme. Both Uproxx and BuzzFeed published major compilations. BuzzFeed's piece, titled "33 Infomercial Characters Who Need To Get Their Shit Together," catalogued individual GIFs with deadpan captions like "This woman who doesn't understand cling wrap" and "This woman giving up on cooking".

The real turning point came on October 21, 2012, when a GIF of a family wildly overreacting to a mother spilling soda hit Reddit's r/funny, pulling in over 4,700 upvotes and 600 comments. The very next day, the subreddit r/wheredidthesodago launched, named after the spilled soda GIF. The sub was dedicated entirely to out-of-context infomercial moments. Within three months it had over 125,000 subscribers. A December 2012 GIF collection on r/Funny scored another 4,400 upvotes. By February 2013, YouTube had more than 1,700 results for "bad infomercial".

How to Use This Meme

The Infomercial Fails format works in a few ways:

- GIF sharing: Pull a clip of someone hilariously failing at a mundane task and share it as a reaction GIF. Works well when someone describes struggling with something that should be simple. The black-and-white "frustrated" clips are popular standalone reactions. - Compilation videos: Edit together multiple clips, often set to ironic music. Derek Lieu's Beatles "Help!" soundtrack set the template. - Out-of-context captioning: Take a single infomercial moment and add a caption that reframes it. The r/wheredidthesodago community typically posts GIFs with absurd fictional backstories for what's happening on screen. - Real-life comparison: When someone botches a simple task, calling it an "infomercial fail" or saying they "infomercial failed" at something is common shorthand.

Cultural Impact

The Urban Dictionary entry for Infomercial Fails defines the concept as failing "amazingly badly at a basic or simple task," using examples like "cracking an egg into a bowl and instead splattering egg and crushed shell pieces all over everything within three feet". The term crossed over into everyday slang for comedic incompetence.

The r/wheredidthesodago subreddit turned what could have been a passing joke into a lasting community with its own creative format, where users write elaborate fake contexts for the clips. The subreddit's rapid growth to 125,000 subscribers in just three months showed real appetite for the humor.

Major outlets covered the trend: HuffPost called it "the Coke Zero of schadenfreude", while Neatorama's commenters described imitating the ineptness of infomercial actors during real household chores. Everything Is Terrible's original compilation drew passionate responses, with one commenter claiming they'd marry anyone who made exactly this kind of video.

Fun Facts

The very first filmed-for-TV infomercial was for a Vitamix blender in 1949. It ran at 12:30 a.m. on WOR-TV and pulled 130 orders by 1:10 a.m.

The 4chan thread requesting infomercial GIFs appeared on the /wsg/ (Work-Safe GIF) board, one of the few SFW boards on the site.

One commenter on the Everything Is Terrible blog proposed marriage to the video's creator, saying they had literally been waiting for someone to make this exact compilation.

The infomercial industry is worth over $200 billion globally.

Derivatives & Variations

r/wheredidthesodago

— Reddit community launched October 22, 2012, dedicated to recontextualizing infomercial clips with absurd captions and backstories. Hit 125,000 subscribers in under three months[6].

Infomercial Problems

— A single-topic Tumblr blog launched January 2012, curating the strangest infomercial moments[6].

"As Seen on TV: A Tribute to Doing It Wrong"

— Derek Lieu's April 2010 YouTube supercut set to the Beatles' "Help!", reaching 2 million+ views[6].

Flex Tape memes

— JonTron's review of a Flex Tape infomercial spawned its own meme ecosystem, building on the broader tradition of laughing at infomercial absurdity[5].

Frequently Asked Questions