Horst Fuchs

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Horst Fuchs (born April 4, 1946 in Frankfurt am Main ) became known as a seller and presenter in Austrian teleshopping programs. His extroverted demeanor established the personified "Mr. Teleshopping" in the 2000s as an early Internet meme in German and Czech-speaking countries right up to its own fan club.

Live and act

Originally trained as a coachbuilder , Horst Fuchs discovered his talent for sales at street markets in the Frankfurt area at the end of the 1960s. In the early 1970s, he began his sales career with car care products. Later he founded his own sales company and from then on trained salespeople himself for demonstrations in department stores and at trade fairs . His sales shows also took him to other Western European countries until the mid-1980s. When he moved to Austria in 1984, he came into contact with his "mentor" Werner Schleinzer from the WS company and from then on became increasingly involved in Eastern Europe; his main field of activity was what was then Czechoslovakia . After the fall of the Iron Curtain , he increasingly supervised the training of international salespeople for direct sales , which continued to take place primarily at trade fairs.

In 1995 he discovered television as a new sales medium for himself and then shifted his activity to teleshopping . From 2000 on, Horst Fuchs could also be seen live on the German branch of the TV channel QVC . In 2001, WS went to the Asian region for the first time with Indian TV sales shows for HSN , and since then Fuchs has accompanied the salesperson training there as well. Appointed Creative Director , he also took over the selection and design of the ever-increasing number of infomercials , for which he then co- hosted former talk show host Ricky Harris - who serves as a spectator surrogate and key word for a powerful product expert . While in German Fuchs' Hessian accent remains clearly recognizable, actor Zdeněk Junák (see Czech Wikipedia ) lends him his Czech dubbing voice .

Horst Fuchs' television presence sometimes reached 15 hours a day, which made him very popular. His characteristic stage wardrobe with tinted glasses, large earring and many chains and rings also played a part in this. This flashy gold jewelry to demonstrate a seller in German tradition of success, his extravagant clothing deemed Fuchs turn as a necessary requisite for professionalism and credibility. Although he openly sees himself as an actor , he personally and thoroughly checked all products in advance. In contrast to American barker methods, he then, as a product expert, relished exaggerated extreme tests: for example, he ran over rival planes with a steamroller, juiced bricks or set a freshly polished bonnet on fire, always with a view to creating a " sensation " for the audience.

Starting with car care - he also consistently promoted this product category for the WS Teleshop - the spectrum of Fuchs' presentations later mainly comprised household and kitchen goods, including the Pressurette - steam ironing station , the Doubletta - reversible pan and various types of mixers and juicers . Fuchs has been successfully selling Alfred Börner's patented vegetable slicer under license as an original German V-slicer since the 1990s , most recently together with Josef “Pepi” Rössler. In the joint demonstrations, Fuchs repeatedly left the role of the expert to Rössler - both privately have a close friendship that has lasted for years. Beyond advertising mailings, Fuchs also cultivated his image with great self-irony, including his own fan articles . As a result, Horst Fuchs also took over parodies as a prototype teleshopping seller.

In 2007 the turnover of the WS Teleshop collapsed by 40 percent compared to the previous year. The massive decline in customers was mainly due to the strong competition from Internet retailers such as Amazon or eBay . On Monday, July 9th, the company finally had to file for bankruptcy , stating that it was over-indebted to 4.5 million euros. The product development and film production was later under the name WS Invention continued while the Media Store GmbH as the last teleshopping sales remained Austria. The infomercials with Horst Fuchs - one of their “most distinctive moderators” - were kept in the program, because the products he marketed continued to be among the best-selling in the industry. Horst Fuchs has now ended his active career in front of the camera.

Additional information

literature

  • Horst Fuchs: Visiting Horst Fuchs - A culinary journey . WS Teleshop International, Wiener Neudorf 2004.

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ a b Německý král teleshoppingu Horst Fuchs Slavi 74. narozeniny. Před kamerou už jej však neuvidíme. In: tvguru.cz. April 2, 2020, accessed August 2, 2020 (Czech).
  2. ↑ a b Pan Teleshopping Horst Fuchs. In: Mladá fronta Dnes . February 11, 2005, accessed August 2, 2020 (Czech).
  3. ↑ a b Interview with Horst Fuchs. In: Maxim . April 18, 2005, archived from the original on January 12, 2006 ; accessed on July 12, 2020 (Czech).
  4. ↑ a b c cf. Reading sample of the cookbook on Fuchs' official website
  5. ↑ Kateřina "Snorlax" Horáková: Zdeněk Junák - Biography. In: Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze . Retrieved July 12, 2020 (Czech).
  6. ↑ Horst Fuchs, Chef Tony & Co: The forerunners of today's influencers. In: The Standard . November 12, 2018, accessed July 12, 2020 .
  7. ↑ a b Horst Fuchs - WS International. ( YouTube video, 6:27 min) In: TV Nova . August 3, 2009, Retrieved July 12, 2020 (Czech).
  8. ↑ Mandy Radics: When golden vegetable slicers conquer the world. In: Trierischer Volksfreund . September 20, 2013, accessed April 26, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Birgit Riezinger: Josef Rössler - Breakthrough with the vegetable cutter. In: Wiener Zeitung . December 23, 2012, accessed July 12, 2020 .
  10. ^ Government hires Horst Fuchs to sell the tax reform to voters. In: The daily press . Retrieved July 12, 2020 .
  11. ↑ WS Teleshop is broke. In: ORF . July 10, 2007, accessed January 2, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Nataša Nikolić: Katharina Schneider in a CASH interview - Teleshopping remains socially acceptable . In: Cash . September 2019 ( katharinaschneider.tv [PDF; 291 kB ; accessed on July 15, 2020]).
  13. ↑ MediaShop.TV partner program. Retrieved July 12, 2020 .
  14. ^ The Top 10 German DRTV Sellers. ( Youtube video, 3:20 min) July 1, 2014, accessed on July 14, 2020 (English).
  15. ^ The Top 3 German DRTV Sellers. ( Youtube video, 1:28 min) December 21, 2016, accessed on July 14, 2020 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Fuchs, Horst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German teleshopping seller
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main