Magic Bullet (appliance)

The Magic Bullet is a compact blender manufactured by Homeland Housewares. It's widely marketed through television commercials and infomercials and sold in retail stores under the "As seen on TV" banner.

The Product

The Magic Bullet is a personal blender that is designed as a space saving replacement for other items that include a blender, food processor, electric juicer and more. The Magic Bullet consists of an electric blender base with a number of attachments. Some of the attachments are included with the product; others must be purchased separately. These consist of:

• Two mixing cups, one short and one tall.
• The Magic Bullet comes with a set of handled cups called Party Mugs. These are used to blend drinks that are individually customized to each person
• Screw-on lids re-sealable caps for the cups so that you may save what you made.
• Perforated lids. These cups are intended to be used to:
  • Microwave cooking right in the mixing cups. The lids allow steam to escape and protect your microwave oven from splatters.
  • Grind up hard spices, like cinnamon, and cheeses, like parmesan, and screwing on the shaker lid to dispense it.
• Two screw-on blade attachments: A "cross blade" (used for chopping foods and crushing ice), and a "flat blade" (used for chopping harder foods like spices and hard cheeses, as well as for whipping)
• Colored "Comfort Lip Rings", which cover the threads on the tops of the mugs. The rings are colored differently so that you will be able to tell everyone’s beverages apart.
• The instruction manual that comes with the set also doubles as a recipe book that features the dishes that are prepared in the infomercial and others that can all be prepared in 10 seconds or less.
• Other attachments include a full size blender pitcher so that you can make larger amounts and a manual juice extractor attachment, to make fresh juice from fruits and vegetables.

Full detailed descriptions of the pieces that are included with the Magic Bullet are displayed on the Magic Bullet website.

Using the Magic Bullet

One of the ways that the Magic Bullet differs from other blenders is that there is no on/off switch. The Bullet is activated by placing the cup you are mixing in, attached to the correct blade and then pressing down. There is also a “lock on” mode for instances of extended blending and juicing, activated by pressing down and turning the cup.

Website

The Magic Bullet website details what the consumer will receive when they order the Magic Bullet. The parts are described in detail next to a line drawing of the actual part.

There is also an order form on the website where the current offer is “Buy 1 Get 1 Free.”

The website also features instructional videos that demonstrate how to use the Magic Bullet, as well as demos of recipes found in the recipe book. There is also a section of the web page devoted to recipes to be used with the Magic Bullet.

Infomercial

The Magic Bullet is best known for its 30-minute infomercial, which has gained a cult following. User created videos of the product and a remixed infomercial have even appeared on popular video sharing websites. The infomercial is hosted by pitchpeople Mick Hastie and Mimi Umidon. Plot The presentation is couched as get-together in Mick and Mimi's kitchen. It's the morning after a huge barbecue thrown by Mick and Mimi, and their friends (who have have presumably spent the night at their house) begin to pile into the kitchen and express interest in the Magic Bullet. As a result, the get-together develops into a Tupperware-style presentation of the product. Over the course of the presentation, Mick and Mimi use the Magic Bullet to prepare many different meals, snacks, and drinks. Their friends are impressed by the machine's versatility and speed. Mick and Mimi even convince Berman, an avid broccoli hater, to drink a beverage made from fresh fruit and broccoli juices. He not only drinks it, but thoroughly enjoys it. By the end of the presentation, the group of friends decide that the Magic Bullet is so useful that they, too, need one in their homes. Then, they decide to throw another party (with the Magic Bullet).

Characters

• Mick - Host. He is Australian, although he sounds English. Loves party drinks and curry powder.
• Mimi - Hostess. Though not explicitly mentioned in the infomercial, she is presented as Mick's wife (the two are not involved in real life). She loves mangos, raspberries, and milkshakes made with chocolate bars and peppermint candies. She playfully mocks Mick's love of curry powder when they make chicken salad.
• Berman - Caustic, overweight, balding man. The "party animal" of the bunch, he shows up in the kitchen with a hangover (the result of the previous night's barbecue), for which Mick and Mimi both tease him. Hates broccoli.
• Hazel - Older woman with a raspy "smoker's voice", glasses and unkempt hair. She is dressed in a bathrobe and has a partially-smoked, unlit cigarette in her mouth which appears and disappears at random times during the broadcast. Hates chopping garlic. (Note: In the Australian broadcast of this advertisement, she is highly edited. Only showing parts where she is not smoking. Only seen saying "Chopping Garlic")

History

The design for the Magic Bullet and its attachments is registered with the United States Patent Office to Mr. Lenny Sands.

The name of the Magic Bullet is derived from the curved shape of the blending cups.

In 2007, Homeland Housewares introduced a portable, cordless version of the Magic Bullet, called the Bullet2Go, which has a rechargeable battery. They have also offered accessories specifically for the Bullet2Go that include a car charger and a travel bag that is sectioned for each specific part.

Also in 2007, Homeland Housewares introduced a “Fat Burning Boost” supplement designed to be used with the Magic Bullet when making smoothies and other beverages. It is marketed as a dietary aid as well as a vitamin supplement for health and energy.

Issues of Copyright Infringement

Due to its success, the Magic Bullet found itself victim to numerous incidents of imitation and forgery. Homeland Housewares has posted the following caveat on websites where counterfeits may exist, like eBay and Amazon.com.

" WARNING ABOUT UNAUTHORIZED MAGIC BULLET COPIES

Homeland Housewares is the sole rights holder of the Magic Bullet and all of its components including its recipe and user guide. We only sell our product through authorized retailers, on our website or via our TV infomercial. We are the owner of the trademark "Magic Bullet" and exclusively sell our product under the Magic Bullet name throughout the world. We are not affiliated with the Magic "Kitchen" Bullet, Amazing Bullet, or any other similarly named product which attempts to trade on our goodwill. We have also identified several counterfeit sellers who are using the Magic Bullet and Homeland Housewares names, trademarks, copyrights and patents without our permission. Unfortunately online auction sites, draw a number of unauthorized replicas. These are not legitimate products and should not be purchased. We cannot attest to the safety or quality of these unauthorized replicas since we do not manufacture or authorize them. We warrant only those Magic Bullets that are purchased from us or our authorized distributors, in accordance with the terms and conditions specified in our "10-Second Recipes And User Guide".

We receive numerous complaints from dissatisfied customers who are confused by and have purchased Magic Bullet look-a-likes. We continuously and successfully pursue factories and distributors of these unauthorized copies, including auction site vendors, to the fullest extent of the law. If you have purchased one of these inferior products from an auction site we strongly suggest you file a complaint with those sites, post a negative comment on the seller's profile, return the product to the seller and post a message here so others will not similarly be taken advantage of.

The safest method for purchasing an original 21-piece Magic Bullet is to order directly from the official Homeland Housewares Magic Bullet website or calling our customer service center 1-866-446-6352. "

Homeland Housewares, LLC is also a member of eBay’s Verified Rights Owner program and has also created a “Consumer Counterfeit Watch” [1] web page in order to help educate consumers regarding these issues.

Criticism

• The appliance has a mediocre rating from Amazon.com, with users most citing problems with poor motoring and with plasticware that breaks easily. Specifically, a consistently cited flaw is with the gears that connect the blender base with the cup. As the blender is designed to function without being locked in place, friction and wear occur when the gears are still in motion and the cup is lifted from the base. Replacement gears have been offered by individuals online , but their sites and listings have since been taken down. Currently the only recourse for a broken unit is to purchase a new one. The machine's motor also rotates in the same direction that is required to unscrew the bladebase from each cup, often resulting in near explosive leakages during operation allowing the liquid contents to dribble down throughout the non-user-accessible electrical mechanics.

• The infomercial exaggerates certain qualities of the Magic Bullet. For example, Mick and Mimi (the hosts of the infomercial) repeatedly comment that they've been able to prepare the things they've made in the machine "without dirtying a single pot or pan", despite the fact that several of the dishes (such as pasta & muffin pans ) include components which would have had to have been cooked beforehand. (It is also implied that Mimi cooks an omelet during the presentation.) The hosts also repeatedly draw attention to the fact that they haven't had to use knives, despite the fact that the counter is covered with cut-up food, indicating that a knife had to have been used to prepare it for use.

References

1. Magic Bullet Homepage
2. Magic Bullet Counterfeit Watch
3. Magic Bullet eBay VeRO page