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Aaay! Henry “The Fonz” Winkler Pitches Reverse Mortgages to His Fellow Senior Citizens

Seeing mega-stars from past decades doing infomercials is nothing new (cf. Erik Estrada, Linda Evans) but I still felt a little bit of sorrow when I saw Henry Winkler, “Fonzie” from Happy Days, on TV shilling for One Reverse Mortgage.

When I was a young child, Henry Winkler was one of the most popular stars around (or least his persona as Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli was). Now Mr. Winkler joins the like of Wilford Brimley, Robert Wagner, and the late Ed McMahon as a daytime TV commercial pitchman of products for senior citizens.

At least he was spared the kind of de-humanizing spectacle that the Flavorwave Oven infomercial forced Mr. T through. Henry Winkler wisely refrained from wearing a leather jacket, sticking his thumbs in the air, and saying “Aaay, if you don’t go to OneReverseMortgage.com you can sit on it, bucko!” before hitting a jukebox that starts playing “Rock Around the Clock.”

Compare Henry Winkler’s performance to another case of a celebrity starring in a financial services commercial…although this ad for 1-800-LoanMart is much more humiliating, I felt neither sorry for its pitchman nor surprised to see him doing it. Ladies and gentlemen, Terry Bollea, better known as Hulk Hogan:

Comments

  • 2 Responses to “Aaay! Henry “The Fonz” Winkler Pitches Reverse Mortgages to His Fellow Senior Citizens”

  • I would have thought Anson Williams or Donny Most were more likely candidates to show up in a commercial like that.

    Comment by euGene on November 9, 2010 at 11:13 am

  • NOT COOL to see “Fonzie” pushing reverse mortgages. The ones I’ve seen take advantage of seniors, who should be required to present these to their families and an attorney before signing on for this. Interest rates are outrageous, and the “you have to live in the house” clause (in the case of one friend, without caregivers) that allows foreclosure is almost criminal. Henry, you’re NOT cool any more!

    Comment by Jan L on January 1, 2013 at 3:11 am