Too Incompetent to Operate a Blanket: Difference between revisions

Might be [[Truth in Television]] for some products and some users. In fact, many of these products were invented specifically for the elderly and disabled, people who legitimately ''could'' have problems with some of these tasks. The Snuggie, for instance, was originally meant for wheelchair users who often have problems regulating their body temperature - the design allows for the upper body and legs to both be fully covered without a corner getting caught in a wheel and without fabric bunching up in the back (which can cause bedsores). The incompetence factor usually arises when the item is marketed to a general audience and it becomes necessary to convince ''them'' that they can't live without these products.

A [[Sub Trope]] of [[Strawman Product]].

=== Uses In Fiction: ===

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Friends]]'' played with this. Character Joey Tribbiani is a struggling actor, and once accepts a role in an infomercial in which he portrays "Kevin", a guy who has trouble with milk cartons that are "flingin'-flangin' hard to open" (he rips one open while trying, spraying milk all over the place). But with the Milk Master 2000, he has no trouble. "Now I can have milk every day!" Later, Joey laments that his fellow cast members in a play tease him about the infomercial by asking him to open milk cartons ... and making fun of him when he can't do it.

** "Are you tired of your bread making you angry?"

** The Snuggie was also parodied in [[Dueling Shows|Dueling Show]] ''[[Sonny With a Chance]]'' with the "Blarmie", the blanket with arms.

** The funny part of ''[[I Carly]]'' making fun of Snuggies is that Nickelodeon advertised the Snuggie.

* ''College Humor'' considers [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb_GNzfEBKI what kind of person would need infomercial products.]

* ''[[Loading Ready Run]]'' did a sketch about [http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/433/Has-This-Ever-Happened-To-You this], with a man who actually lives in an informercial.

* In an early [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiy2Yj0r1Rs "Têtes à claques"] video, the amazing power of the "Willi Waller" (an ordinary potato peeler) is contrasted with the difficulty of peeling potatoes with one's fingernails (0:49).

* Pretty much most of the examples written below have been lovingly compiled in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08xQLGWTSag this video.]

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* An early episode of ''[[Squidbillies]]'' features a fake commercial for a fictional baby crib. It starts off with a woman apparently unable to cope with her ventriloquist infant screaming with his mouth closed, insisting with a lip-synch that wouldn't be out of place in a Godzilla movie, "There's '''got''' to be a better way!"

** Another fake advertisement in the same episode starts the same way. This ad is for the Baby Death Trap, which apparently exists solely so the manufacturer can sue people who call the earlier product a "death trap" not for libel but for trademark infringement.

** The really funny issue is that frankly the Eggies look harder to use than a typical egg. If you salt the water you boil the eggs in or immerse the cooked egg in cold water, the shell will usually come off in about three or four big pieces. Trying to pour liquid egg goop into the small opening looks like the more likely possibility to make a huge mess (which might explain why halfway through the ad, they start talking up the ability to ''add seasoning to your egg,'' and you start wondering why they can't lead off the commercial with the smart idea)

* Touch & Brush, in which people point toothpaste tubes at toothbrushes, squash the tubes like they're trying to make pythons choke up the rabbits they ate last week (creating horrific pastey messes in the process), then use completely ineffective methods to get the remnants out of the tube. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=049pGpLdp9Y=related Who taught these children] how toothpaste works?

* A commercial for a mosquito repellent candle shows a group of friends trying to use a ''single'' tiki-torch-style mosquito repellent, huddled around it desperate for protection! Naturally, they use dozens of the advertised brand to protect their party.

* The person in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KBXcpJfmj4 Big City Slider] commercial trying to make normal burgers simply ''should not be allowed near a stove''. (Fun fact: that's [[Billy Mays]] with his sleeves rolled down. Apparently his superhuman abilities were dependent on whether his sleeves were rolled up or not.) Also, note how he goes on and on about how you can actually put stuff on your slider after cooking them with the BCS Machine. Y'know, as if you couldn't already do that with a slider cooked the traditional way. For extra fun, when he says "Clean-up's a breeze!" the magic hands use a paper towel to dab delicately at a BCS Machine that has clearly never been used, ever.

* A commercial featured a man sitting in a pile of twist ties. Only his head and hands were visible, he actually proclaimed "I'm *drowning* in twist ties!". He needs to remember to stand up.

* Furniture Fix. The guy couldn't even get off of a couch without the product. Though to be fair he was kinda old.

** Admittedly this may be what we would LIKE to do regarding a slow computer, but still...

** Anyone who works computer tech support will confirm this to be [[Truth in Television]].