Billy Mays commercials still running after death

It's kind of weird and morbid to see Billy Mays on tv still pitching these products. I wonder what the thinking of the product sellers is. I wouldn't doubt they guess many of the people watching don't even know he's dead. It seems to me they should be pulled out of respect but who knows his family may have given permission or wants the money. Thoughts?

They stopped running them for a while, but how long are they expected to do so?  Completely aside from the hundreds of thousands of dollars those companies spent to make the commercials (and that they would have to spend again to make them using someone else), he loved what he did, and while personally I couldn't stand him, I look at it as a tribute to him that they're still running them.

If we're going to expect the commercial featuring Billy Mays to go off the air, we should also stop watching re-runs of TV shows with dead actors, movies with dead actors, listening to music or watching videos with dead rock stars, etc.  Just because someone has died does not mean we should forevermore ignore any creative work they might have produced.

I understand that he still moves a lot of product.

I would bet that most people don't have a clue that he is even dead.  Unless his death was announced on American Idol, or Dancing with the stars or some other innocuous reality show or sports show they've probably not heard.

I've found that many people are oblivious to many current events. 

The Company doesn't have to shell out more $ for a new commercial, the adds are evidently still effective, and his estate gets royalties, win, win, win!

Hey I still listen to Buddy Holly regularly and have since 1959.  (As well as many other departed singers from years past.)

Dead is only one plane of existence.

We think of our departed loved ones regularly - why should Billy be any different?  They use Buddy's tunes to sell stuff on TV just like they do with Elvis and so many other departed folks.

I guess I don't look at it the same way as watching an old movie or listening to an old song. I see a difference there, mainly because those old songs or movies weren't made for the same purpose. I don't recall any Dave Thomas commercials for Wendy's after he passed on though I'm sure they had them. Just my opinion.

scbuzz



I've found that many people are oblivious to many current events. 

Boy, is that the truth. When Jay Leno was hosting the Tonight Show, he brought this fact home with his "Jaywalking" segment. He interviewed college students on the street who didn't know the difference between Austria and Australia, and who couldn't even tell you who our vice-president is. Just pathetic.   

ces1948


I guess I don't look at it the same way as watching an old movie or listening to an old song. I see a difference there, mainly because those old songs or movies weren't made for the same purpose. I don't recall any Dave Thomas commercials for Wendy's after he passed on though I'm sure they had them. Just my opinion.

They were on for a while after he died, until they were no longer selling the limited-time products he was promoting or running the specials he was promoting.  They ran KFC commercials with Colonel Sanders for a long time after his death as well.  The stuff Billy Mays sells doesn't get out of date because he never mentions a price, and the products aren't going away.  Also, you probably didn't see the Dave Thomas commercials because he didn't make nearly as many as Billy Mays.

Yes, there's a difference between movies, music and commercials, but it's still the same concept.  Shoot...they're now using old movie clips in commercials, and some of those actors have been dead since I was a kid.  The thing will Billy Mays is, his life was about pitching products.  Of all people, he is the best choice to keep his commercials on the air (even though, as I said, I can't stand him and I'd be perfectly happy if I never had to hear his voice again).