Will It Blend?

""Will it blend? That is the question.""

A Web series found throughout YouTube, Will It Blend? is a Viral Marketing campaign consisting of a series of infomercials demonstrating the Blendtec line of blenders, especially the Total Blender. In the show, Tom Dickson, the Blendtec founder, attempts to blend various items in order to show off the power of his blender.

Blendtec is the master of the Deceptively Simple Demonstration. It's actually easier to blend a hard item like a mobile phone or a golf ball than it is to perform normal blending tasks such as pureeing vegetables. A mobile phone isn't going to form a thick half-pureed liquid that coats the walls of the blender and leaves the blades spinning around in a bubble of air.

And while they have listed things that shouldn't be blended, that hasn't stopped some people from trying this themselves...even after they've been specifically told not to. Tom and his blender appeared in the Weezer video "Pork N Beans;" after that, Tom returned the favor by blending a can of pork and beans (can and all) with a copy of Weezer's so-called "Red album."

He and his blender have appeared on plenty of morning talk shows, as well as the Discovery Channel, and even on the History Channel's Long Runner Modern Marvels.

The series provides examples of:
""Uncle Floyd was playing the Wii with the grandchildren, and while he was bowling - strapless - he destroyed another TV. So I am going to blend the strapless Wiis.""
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The Boron Steel episode (Ford Fiesta ad). "First I tried to saw it, drill through it, torch it... I even jumped on it."
 * Big No: Heard in the background when breaking the iPad and blending the iPhone.
 * Catch Phrase:
 * "[subject] smoke -- don't breathe this!"
 * Sometimes Inverted, for non-harmful items as "[subject] smoke -- you can breathe this!"
 * "I think I'll press the [name related to subject] button!"
 * "Will it blend? That is the question."
 * Chroma Key: Whenever a green screen is used, it's normally subverted; for example, in the Ford Fiesta video, the view outside the car is changed from the Blendtec headquarters to various silent films of train crashes and bridge collapses, among other ridiculous things.
 * Don't Try This At Home: And don't breathe this.
 * Fake-Out Opening: One video seems to start off by trying to blend a crowbar -- until someone's phone goes off, so the phones get blended instead.
 * Foregone Conclusion: Most of the time, it will blend.
 * Hilarity Ensues
 * Loophole Abuse: Tom gets around dangerous warnings like "don't puncture or cut" with "well, it doesn't say don't blend!"
 * Product Placement: While the entire show is a plug for Blendtec, several companies have requested their products be blended for this purpose.
 * Real Life Writes the Plot: Dickson's family members have sometimes influenced what he blends.
 * Running Gag: Many items are supposedly chosen because they caused something bad to happen to Dickson.


 * Shout Out to Shakespeare: The "Will it blend? That is the question."

""Yes it blends!""