This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature.

Does it say something about American society when we consider the broad acceptance of the infomercial? At the very least, it says quick-hit, impulse item merchandising is alive and doing well. It also tells us that potential snake oil salesmen will always find their marks. What was once a marketing style reserved for county fairs and roadside stands is now considered to be mainstream business as usual.

Which of the following infomercial offerings made you sit up and take notice this past year? Did PedEggs get you up on your feet? Did you give in to a ShamWow craving and find yourself all wet, or did you buy some Aqua Globes and find yourself a bit dried out? Did Green Bags make you green behind the gills, wishing you had kept your greenbacks to your self? In the video marketing temple of Billy Mays On High, we must be careful whence our consumerist tithes may flow.

There are a few things about these product offerings that I want to know. Such as, why does that ShamWow barker have a head set on anyway? Who are we supposed to believe that he's talking to? Why would I need a PedEgg to accomplish what a little sandpaper can do? Wouldn't letting the ethylene gas from a banana escape into the atmosphere preserve the fruit just as long as sucking that gas into the interior of a Green Bag? How does an Aqua Globe measure the percentage of water in the soil that surrounds it?

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Best & Worst in Money 2008: As-seen-on-TV product originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 07 Dec 2008 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.