With constant tv advertising, sooner or later everyone succumbs
Expert counsellors know that there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Like many people living in Italy, foreign and native, I have went through these stages in relation to the omnipresent mattress producer Eminflex. When you watch television here, never a pretty sight, it is impossible to miss the televendite (infomercials) for the company, promising extraordinary beds at bargain prices complete with fantastic accessories like pillows, sheets, bedspreads, frames, and headboards. Especially in the morning, as the following you tube video shows, it is common for almost every channel to be simultaneously devoted to celebrating the unique qualities of the company’s products and the incredible generosity of its special limited offers.
Resistance is futile
Given that Eminflex’s epic televendite tend to interrupt programs for five or ten minutes at a time, unlike conventional 30 second tv commercials, this means that local couch potatoes end up enduring several hours of bed and pillow talk every month. While the most logical response would be to turn off the set, people tend to begin to take a perverse pleasure in the sheer crassness of the shrill and repetitive advertising copy and, after a certain point, find themselves phoning the friendly operators standing by to take their orders.
Yes I have an Eminflex bed (I also have some really bad neck and back pain at the moment but that is surely just a coincidence). When we ordered our letto matrimoniale (the largest Italian bed size), the special offer was two separate luxury bed spreads of silk and cashmere that could be attached together. The various fading stars shilling for Eminflex every morning raved about the generosity of the company’s decision to give away such exclusive products with what was already the top value bed on the market. We were confused therefore to find that the only bed spreads we received along with our mattress were two very ordinary looking Chinese made polyester versions. After a quick call to customer service, where my wife was told that “everyone asks where the cashmere and silk are,” we discovered that the precious materials were hidden away inside the lining of the bed spreads…
Call now!
Hi! It is true, bed commercials are very frequent in Italy…but I think it is always better to buy in a real store, after you have seen what you need! In this case, you pay more, but you save money all the same!
Do you really believe that the cashmire and silk is inside the polyester??
Barbaraland: Hi to you too! It’s difficult to buy a bed anywhere – they all look the same.
Taze: No.
Hi there, stumbled upon yr blog while googling to buy a mattress in Italy! We need one but have no idea where to look for it/whether we can bargain at the stores. Any pointers? We only have Ikea in mind.
p.s. We are non Italians living in Modena.
THX!!
Hi wj:
Yes, bargaining at stores can be frightening for new residents in Italy – both for the language and for the tendency of some salespeople to try and pull a fast one on the foreigner. When I first came here I was quoted insane prices for things like parsley (50,000 lire! ma dai!). Stores like Ikea are popular with foreigners – and Italians too – because you don’t have to bargain (or even speak to any great extent).
As for local mattresses, the big names in Italy are Permaflex and Eminflex which are produced by the same company. Permaflex is sold in stores while Eminflex is on tv 24/7.
For ease of purchase, I would prob recommend Eminflex – clear pricing, relative quality, and home delivery.
Thanks for the tip, I will look them up.
hello can you ship to malta please
no.
hi do you ship to the uk please or is there anywere i can get it from the uk ?? thanks a lot
I’m sure there are other mattresses in the UK.