Vita-Mix Fact:

When television made its debut in 1949, W.G. Barnard's son Bill immediately recognized this new medium as the perfect way for W.G. ("Papa") to demonstrate the new and improved Vita-Mix machine to hundreds of homemakers at the same time. He booked a 30-minute time slot on WEWS-TV and created the first-ever direct response commercial. This commercial, which ran for several years in many markets, made the blender a household word. A filmed version of this early infomercial holds a special place in the Direct Marketing Association archives.