The Late Billy Mays and His Perfect Pitch
by Vera H-C ChanJun 29, 2009
Garrulous and ever congenial, Billy Mays believed in what he preached. Or pitched. In a month of unexpected celebrity passings, the man who sincerely believed in his hype died reportedly of hypertensive heart disease on June 28.
In a month of too many celebrity passings, people took a moment to honor the bearded infomercial hawker. Searches on Yahoo! were so massive on Sunday that his name "billy mays" bypassed even "michael jackson." (Cumulative queries for Jackson's music, biography, and so on, however, continue to overwhelm the Web). Mays' searchers wasn't just old couch potatoes. Everyone from teenagers to 50-somethings joined in.
Media outlets also paid their respects. CNN called him "handsome in a Brawny Towel Guy sort of way" with a "sunshiny attitude." The Los Angeles Times reminisced about how he joined in video parodies of his infomercials with his own joke spots. AP repeated Mays' favorite story of giving away OxiClean as wedding favors.
Unlike spammers or telemarketers, the former football player did more then get people to sit up and watch (and sometimes order). Mays specialized in solving the nagging aggravations and pet peeves modern society, and he managed to do that with the sheer force of his normal-guy charisma, volume turned up to maximum.
Discovery Channel plans to honor him July 1 with a marathon of "Pitchmen," a reality series that started April 15. Mays would probably be pleased with another posthumous tribute: Along with searches into his biography, family, and beard, people also checked out his products.
Below, the top 10—and please note, even though Shamwow lookups also saw an online surge, that's that other guy.
Top 10 Billy May Product Plug Searches on Yahoo!, June 28
- OxiClean (stain remover)
- Kaboom (all-purpose cleaner)
- Orange Glo (wood cleaner)
- Impact Gel (shoe inserts)
- Mighty Putty (epoxy)
- Awesome Auger (garden digging tool)
- Big City Slider Station (hamburger press)
- What Odor? (deodorizer spray)
- Zorbeez (all-purpose cleaning cloth)
- Hercules Hooks (wall hanger)
