Ron Popeil - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

Ron Popeil's success in infomercials, memorable marketing personality, and ubiquity on American television have allowed him and his products to appear in a variety of popular media environments including cameo appearances on television shows such as the X-Files, Futurama King of the Hill, The Simpsons, Sex and the City and The Daily Show. Parodies of Popeil's infomercials were done on the comedy show Saturday Night Live by Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy and the "Veg-O-Matic" may have provided comedian Gallagher inspiration for the "Sledge-O-Matic" routine since the 1980s. Additionally, the professional wrestling tag team The Midnight Express dubbed their finishing move the Veg-O-Matic. In Futurama, he is said to have invented the technology to keep heads alive in jars.

Popeil was voted by Self Magazine readers as one of the 25 people who have changed the way we eat, drink and think about food.

Popeil has been referenced in the music of Alice Cooper, the Beastie Boys, and "Weird Al" Yankovic, who wrote a parody song entitled "Mr. Popeil" which was a tribute to Ron Popeil's father, Samuel Popeil. Ron Popeil later used this song in some of his infomercials.

In Malcolm Gladwell's book What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures, Ron Popeil is interviewed and many of his products, most notably the Veg-O-Matic and Showtime Rotisserie, are discussed. The article was first published in The New Yorker in 2000.