One of the most physically painful TV moments in our lifetime was having to watch poor Montel Williams sell the last remainder of his soul for worthless Barack Obama commemorative coins. It seemed just yesterday that the talk show host with the Yul Brenner scalp was chumming it up on the daytime talk show circuit, interviewing women who love too much or husbands who love way too much with people other than their wives. It was like watching the rock-bottom moment of a man's life in the wake of his waning glory days without it airing on VH1.
Now a local action news station has blown the lid off these coins that Montel has reduced himself to hawking: they are a bigger gyp than Baywatch Nights.
KATU 2 News out of Portland, Oregon talked to a couple of Barack Obama collectible hoarders who buy and sell all sorts of commemorative Obama merchandise. They have everything from coffee mugs to posters to those plates that sit in cabinets and no one will ever use unless the dishwasher breaks and Grandma isn't home. Then they saw the ad featuring Montel's smiling mug and felt that they had to have them for their collection. (Danny's news gravitas instinct kicks in) But what they got was a UPS package of disappointment and frustration.
They ordered some sets with the thought they were getting actual coins pressed by the U.S. Mint. What they got was 50-cent pieces with stickers plastered on one side of them. Four sets of the coins set them back $150 smackers. Hope and change, my ass.
The report, of course, features a portion of the Montel commercial pouring his heart for this coins and telling the viewers that he's "so proud to be a part of this incredible offer."
If you don't even feel a twinge of heartache for the man, then you're not human.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-16-2009 @ 2:47PM
ian said...
change you can believe in? huh huh, I coined that
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2-16-2009 @ 2:52PM
Carl said...
I agree that hawking Obama-related memorabilia is pretty low, but this is the same Montel Williams who criticized Fox and Friends for lack of Iraq War coverage and excessive coverage of Heath Ledger's death -- if he has the standard to make that complaint, he should be nowhere near the Obama memorabilia marketplace.
As for the collectors -- all they had to do is watch the commercial a few times. The coins they show look nothing more like casino chips.
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2-16-2009 @ 4:36PM
Craig said...
I'm not sure what criticizing Fox has to do with it. God knows he was probably right. But I doubt Montel is impoverished. No one held a gun to his head to schill for these folks.
2-16-2009 @ 3:15PM
Ric Kaysen said...
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people"
His target audience are fools separated from their money, nothing more.
Let's just hope the depth of the actual administration doesn't prove to be just as superficial.
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2-16-2009 @ 3:36PM
Malren said...
Why do people still use "gyp?" It's as racist a term as "jew" when used this way. Would you ever post on TV Squad that you think the coins were an effort to "jew someone out of their money?"
"Gyp" is short for gypsy, and in this context it reinforces the stereotype that gypsy cultures were dishonest thieves who would cheat you as soon as you let them. It's derogatory and racist. Stop using it.
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2-16-2009 @ 4:02PM
Zachary said...
The word gypsy itself is racist, so shut your damn mouth. Also, you must stop using all the words on this list.
http://www.cracked.com/article_16967_8-racist-words-you-use-every-day.html
2-16-2009 @ 4:19PM
Malren said...
I can't believe you'd actually defend it. Wow. Takes all kinds.
2-16-2009 @ 4:22PM
Butters said...
hmmm... OK
Well first of all the etymology of the term 'gyp' is considered to be American English and although there were some Gypsys in America they were very small in number compared to Europe and the UK. Most language scholars agrre that there is no direct evidence that the US term 'gyp' has anything at all to do with gypsys.
To confuse things even more the term 'gyp' is known in England as a college servant at the University of Cambridge and is thought to come from the obsolete gippo, a menial kitchen servant; this once meant a man’s short tunic, from the obsolete French jupeau.
In Australia and New Zealand, 'gyp' is slang for 'to cause pain' either literally, such as ' My knee is giving me gyp' or as light hearted ribbing such as 'When I fell off the bar stool my mates gave me gyp'. Neither of these meaning has ever being related to gypsy.
So basically, even if there was some small connection to gypsy way back when, there is very little evidence to prove it and people should not have to be so politically correct just because you tell them to.
I find it amusing when people get so offended on behalf of cultures or races that don't care about such uses. Next you will be getting offended when someone uses the word 'germ' because it could offend the Germans!
2-16-2009 @ 6:07PM
Zachary said...
I can't believe you would condemn the word gyp while tossing around the word gypsy. Cognitive dissonance.
3-03-2009 @ 2:55PM
J_Brisby said...
I think that someone needs to invent a new term to describe the sort of person who is offended on other peoples' behalf. I mean, presumably Malren isn't an actual Gypsy herself, given that she has Internet access and the ability to use words, yet she jumps in and complains about how racist the term is. I don't hear any Gypsies complaining!
I'm not sure what the best choice for this new word would be, but may I suggest 'woman'?
2-16-2009 @ 3:48PM
bruce said...
It's not just these "Obama coins" that are ripoffs. All of those "limited edition" coin advertisements on TV are absolute, per se ripoffs. It's a private company manufacturing flat metal slugs with pictures on each side. They're meant to resemble coins, but only an idiot of the highest caliber would believe that these are actually legal tender real currency. It's monopoly money. Nothing more.
What's even funnier is how some of them are made (well, at least they say they are) of precious metal. Question: how do you sell $5 worth of silver for $29.99? Answer: shape it as a flat, round slug, make it look like a coin, and say there's a "limited" number of them. Then suggest that silver prices are going up, possibly, maybe, even high enough to make this "coin" worth more than $30! Of course, silver prices could go down, too, and the price of fingernail clippings "could" go up. Even if the price of silver were definitely going to go up, why spend $30 for $5 worth of silver? Why not just spend $5 for $5 worth of silver?
I have no problem with fools being separated from their money, but I believe advertising that relies on small print at the bottom of the TV screen (which can barely be read and is shown for half a second) constitutes fraud.
In fact, it's my position that "fine print" and asterisks in advertisements should not count and should always be disregarded by the law. "Free (with purchase)" is absolutely misleading and fraudulent. The consumer should be allowed to disregard the small print, and the advertiser should be bound by the remainder of the ad. After all, that's what they used to trick the consumer, so the fine print should not be binding to save them.
Those "Free Credit Report dot com" commercials are a prime example - it's not free if you have to pay to enroll in their monthly service. If any payment is required, including shipping and handling, it should be against the law to use the word "free" in an advertisement. Also, a refund should always have to include the cost of shipping and handling. Many fraudsters make a lot of money selling broken garbage for $15 plus $10 s/h with a "money back guarantee (less s/h)" ... they spend $1 mailing the product out via the cheapest shipping method, and even if 80% of customers take the time to jump through the requisite hoops to get a refund, they'll only get the purchase price of $15 back, so the fraudster had a net profit of $9. Whether it's magic herbal pills that make your penis grow larger or a magic box you plug into your wall that makes all the insects flee your house, fine print and shipping and handling scams are letting these unethical liars make money they do not deserve. I have zero sympathy for the idiots who fall for their commercials - they deserve to lose their money. But the people getting their money do NOT deserve one penny... that's my problem.
Botton line - ignore ALL commercials. Anything beyond the mere showing of a logo is fraud. It's a lie. No product in the world will get you laid. No product in the world will make you more attractive to the opposite sex. No product in the world will make your sex life better. No product in the world will cause you to have more friends. No product in the world will cause someone to like you who does not currently like you.
Reply
2-16-2009 @ 5:48PM
Franklin said...
"No product in the world will get you laid. No product in the world will make you more attractive to the opposite sex. No product in the world will make your sex life better. No product in the world will cause you to have more friends. No product in the world will cause someone to like you who does not currently like you."
One word: "Beer"
3-03-2009 @ 2:48PM
J_Brisby said...
Don't forget soap!
2-17-2009 @ 9:46PM
Mary said...
From the dictionary:
gyp
1 /dʒɪp/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [jip] Show IPA Pronunciation
verb, gypped, gyp⋅ping, noun
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
1. to defraud or rob by some sharp practice; swindle; cheat.
–noun
2. a swindle or fraud.
3. Also, gyp⋅per /ˈdʒɪpər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [jip-er] Show IPA Pronunciation , gypster. a swindler or cheat.
4. Also called gypsy. an owner of racehorses who also acts as trainer and jockey.
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2-16-2009 @ 7:34PM
Malren said...
Is that supposed to make it okay? That it's in the dictionary? Because so are "nigger" and "kike."
Oh and Butters? Never assume someone's heritage over the internet, genius.
2-16-2009 @ 4:20PM
Rocketboy said...
"If you don't even feel a twinge of heartache for the man, then you're not human."
I guess it's not human to not be surprised that he's shilling for a scam then. He shilled for Sylvia Browne for HOW MANY FREAKIN YEARS, and some rip-off coins is the WORST thing that he's done?
At least the coins are not preying off dead people like Sylvia Browne.
Reply
2-16-2009 @ 6:33PM
John said...
Someone must of waited until he had just smoked a spliff and had him thinking it was a great idea.
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2-16-2009 @ 7:04PM
Adam said...
Well, duh. Of course they're a piece of crap. Just look at the coins on the commercial...how else would you get a glossy picture on a coin without it being a sticker.
Reply
2-16-2009 @ 9:15PM
gary klein said...
The Sylvia Browne pimping put this guy in a reserved room in hell long before his coin scam. He does not have an ethical bone in his body. And make sure to keep an eye out for the drug company "help" truck that's on it's way to your town. That's got to be a winner!
http://aplusmathnscience.com/
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2-17-2009 @ 2:23AM
Butters said...
@ Malren
Well it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if your heritage is Romani then you don't really call yourself a Gypsy as it can have negative connotations, so therefore you wouldn't care if anyone used the term 'gyp'.
The only person that would get "offended" by 'gyp' would be some bleeding heart politically correct idiot who has no idea what they are talking about. In other words, you Malren.
I have shown you the etymology of the word 'gyp' and that was you best response. You must be a rocket scientist yourself.
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