Is it just us or does he actually look like that Dad from Family Guy. If you made it through 8 minutes of this, you can declare yourself legally dead.
“I’ll give ya a deal a deal so good, you’ll call your Aunt Clara.” What?—MEGHANN MARCO
Supremely lame infomercial: Family Auto Mart [BoingBoing]
PREVIOUSLY: Great Moments In Commercial History: Moo and Oink
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I made it 3 minutes 24 seconds.
I feel so empty in my brain.
work on a friday night has never been more fulfilling.
BOO COO MINIVANS!
Anyone bold enough to call that number to see if they’re still in business?
They may have killed too many customers with their ads.
this guy should seems more like your average fat guy on crack than a “family man”
I’m from Orlando and these have been on tv for years, however I don’t know if commercials would necessarily be an accurate term to describe them since they will often be an hour long show at like 12am.
When I was interning at Walt Disney World, we’d actually stay up Wednesday nights to watch this guy…It was so wrong, but so incredibly funny. We quite literally couldn’t look away.
It was terrifying how much of the theme song I remembered…address, phone number, the works. What an earworm.
Are they still in business? You bet your boots they are! A quick Google search turns up http://www.familyautomart.com — your web destination, obviously, for zany car dealerships. You best visit the site RIGHT NOW. You can even join their “Fan Club.” But make sure the sound is turned way, way down on your laptop — this dude’s voice will tear a hole right through your speakers.
Having grown up in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut tri-state area, this reminds me less of Peter Griffin from Family Guy and more of “Crazy Eddie.” Remember him?
I lived in Orlando around 1998-2000 and remember this guy totally. Besides the small ads, he did an hour or so infomercial every Sunday. Unfortunately I was doing flight training and was off drugs so I couldn’t enjoy the show to its fullest.
Here in Memphis we have a tax firm that advertises on the local stations. The Family Man must have hired the same production company. I can’t even follow the concept of the videos let alone think straight over the soundtrack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuF1MkrCMSI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOcqtP3n-B8
Love those tax commercials, RHazlett. How about a commercial for the sweetest ride ever, a Yugo?
Ya know… this guy is clearly touched in the head, but DAMN that is some hypnotic advertising. If the intention is to create a spectacle they pulled it off. Advertising like that will ‘set you free’ from your money- that is, if you live on the space coast of florida and are a hillbilly….
I’m impressed.
Why does he insist on speaking in rhyme? “The AC will set you free?” I always thought it was, “The truth will set you free.”
Sigh… why do used car salesmen even bother to make ads?
Everybody knows that if something rhymes it must be true. “If the glove doesn’t fit you must aquit” That little bit of poetry set a double-murderer free.
’94 Geo metro. Ablo espanol, amigo!
HAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
this is fantastic.
That girl five minutes in is cute too…
I only made it 55 seconds, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy myself. This series is a worthy successor to Wal-Mart Nazi T-Shirt Watch. Although it’s going to be hard to top Moo and Oink.
this is a great commercial, but my favorite orlando area commercials/informercial is from the lovely people at appliance direct.
heres a taste:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgxcYz5cLN8
What happened to the Weekend Soapbox? I have stuff to speak about! I need to comment damnit!
I’ll bet you my left shoe that this guy is richer than any of us can imagine. Sure his commercials are annoying, but that’s part of the genius of them.
The guy’s not making infomercials for his health. He’s probably getting incredibly wealthy. As a capitalist, I applaud him. As a performer, I want to shoot him, though.
Holy Crap….
This is one of the greatest ads of all time…
I could not take my eyes off of it…
This guy RULES!!!!
I thought it was a MadTV sketch at first. The guy reminds me of Will Sasso… without any talent, that is.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s like he’s channeling Daffy Duck– if Daffy Duck were a fat white guy who sold cars.
Oh, and from the website’s bio, I found this interesting:
“Darlene”, (Heather Power or the “Family Man’s Wife”) is listed in the BBB as the president Family Auto Mart.
Look up “family auto mart” on youtube for another clip that clocks in at an even more insane 10:38. Looks like he’s lost a lot of weight.
Anyone else think the family man has a Slim Pickens element to his voice? Ironic I have a Dr. Strangelove avatar, no?
I nominate Jim “The Hammer” Shapiro for the next installment of Great Moments in Commercial History. He was a Rochester area personal injury lawyer. We used to see his commercials when I was in college in Ithaca.
You tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5hn8bhEpMY&mode=related&se…
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Shapiro
Anyone else think he has a Slim Pickens element to his voice? Ironic I have a Dr. Strangelove avatar, no?
Stupid double post. I assure you I’m not retarded. Mostly.
Holy jesus, that was hypnotic. It’s got ice cold AC that’ll SEEETT YOU FREEE.
Man, I lived not a five minute drive AWAY from that place in Melbourne, FL. Those commercials played throughout my childhood.
Do you realize the emotional scarring I have? I nearly went into death throws when that video started playing.
That ’93 “Blazer” is actually a GMC Jimmy, they’ve lost all credibility with that flub.
As someone who was inflicted with a lot of Matthew Lesko commercials growing up, this guy’s not that bad.
The funniest part is that this show is actually watched on a weekly basis by enough people that Family Auto Mart can charge for ads for OTHER COMPANIES they air during their show.
I went to college in Orlando and saw this show for several years.
The only thing better than this could possible be APPLIANCE DIRECT, same day delivery, see it all and SAVE! The best part about the ads is that they are like The Learning Channel for appliances.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgxcYz5cLN8
I tried to get one of those sweet t-shirts that says “I Love Refrigerators” but they don’t sell them.
I feel that as a service to America we need to set up a contest for the best one of these commercials. That way, the winner of the worst company contest can figure out which commercial to emulate in order to repair the damage done to their otherwise sterling reputation.
So far I vote for Moo and Oink.
misskaz:
That Jim Shapiro as is as insane at it is amusing. I’m taking Professional Responsibility in law school right now, and I _can’t_ wait to get to advertising to show this to my prof.
In 1995-97 I worked doing ad layout for the Auto Trader, and Orlando was one of the markets we covered. I scanned in several photos of this guy, and made dozens of ads for his dealership.
My all-time favorite (and MAN I wish I’d saved a copy) featured a row of big photos in the middle of the ad that captured this rotund gentleman in mid-cartwheel. It must have taken at least three or four takes to get all the pictures. It was really a thing of beauty. I’m amazed he didn’t knock his brains out.
Oh my god, you guys have posted TWO THINGS from my hometown this week! (Best Buy theft, now this)
This was one of my favorite commercials growing up… everyone in town knew the words, and some people were lucky enough to earn spots in the ads.
“If you want a deal that’s great, call 242-0328. Faaaaaaaaamily Auto Mart, I’ll see ya here!”
So awesome.
I’m from the area, and these guys are local legends. They can go on like that for 30 mins straight.
I actually chuckled out loud at “boo coo minivans”
no longer available…. anyone got another source?
The Family Auto Mart ads are still running on Bright House cable for this Melbourne car dealership, this one actually ran last night (1/31/09):
+ Watch video
“Fixin to learn ya….”