These Are the 10 Greatest Pitchmen (and Women) of All-Time…
Jack Benny
Benny’s shameless incorporation of his sponsors’ products and jingles into his highly rated programs became a brilliant and highly profitable running joke.
Stephanie Courtney
Courtney, who came to the ad world from improv comedy, has played Flo the Progressive Lady for more than a decade.
George Foreman
A boxing villain during his prime, Foreman “unretired” in the 1980s, somehow regained the world heavyweight title at age 45, and reinvented himself as a friendly teddy bear who sold countertop grills, mufflers, invention services—you name it.
Arthur Godfrey
In the 1940s and ’50s, Godfrey ranked as the most-trusted pitchman in radio and television, hawking everything from Lipton Tea to Chesterfields. After being diagnosed with lung cancer, he became a prominent anti-smoking advocate.
Lori Greiner
When Greiner isn’t sparring with her Shark Tank peers, the Queen of QVC develops and promotes the products and companies populating her consumer-shopping empire.
Joy Mangano
Mangano changed the home-shopping game when she muscled her way onto the air to promote her Miracle Mop and sold 18,000 in a half-hour spot.
Peyton Manning
The self-effacing NFL legend has become so skilled as a pitchman that viewers actually turn up the volume when his laugh-out-loud commercials air.
Billy Mays
Mays took high-volume, high-octane pitches to a new level—particularly in the cleaning category—before a heart attack ended his life at 50.
Shaquille O’Neal
Shaq, who spent his boyhood in Newark, has found the sweet spot between silliness and seriousness to become a high-value spokesman for everything from Gold Bond to Papa John’s to Carnival Cruise Lines.
Ron Popeil
Popeil is remembered for inventing and selling a relentless stream of products you didn’t need or really even want, yet couldn’t resist buying—from the Pocket Fisherman to the Showtime Rotisserie to Mr. Microphone to GLH-9 (aka hair in a can).
