Home Improvement Celebrity Endorsements

Quick Column Summary:

• Home improvement endorsements
• Are they credible
• Did the endorsers test the product
• Did endorser get paid for this

I'm pretty much just like you.

I'm not immune from receiving advertisements in the mail.

Earlier this week, I received a postcard from GutterBrush that was promoting a 20-percent-off offer. Here it is:

This is the front of the postcard. It's a nice attention-getting design. Photo credit: Tim Carter

On the back of the card, there was more information, including logos from six different home improvement publications, television shows or radio shows.

Here's the back of the card. See the tiny logos?

This is the back of the postcard. See the tiny logos above the address field? I blacked out my street and town lines on the card. Believe me, you don't want to meet my guard dog face-to-face. She can run much faster than you and when she pounces on your back, it will be like being hit with a bag of mortar. Photo credit: Tim Carter

I took another photo so you can see the logos better.

Do you recognize some of these home improvement information outlets? Photo credit: Tim Carter

Do you trust these home improvement sources? Here's who they are in case you can't read them:

• Gary Sullivan
• HouseSmarts
• HGTV
• This Old House
• Handyman Show with Glenn Haege
• On the House - The Carey Brothers

Odds are you feel they're credible. I'm about to shake your belief system to the core.

I'm going to assume the folks in the list above approved the use of their names and likenesses on the postcard. For GutterBrush to do that without their permission would be a grave business mistake.

I assume the folks and companies in the list above approve of the GutterBrush product, wouldn't you?

Guess what? I tested the GutterBrush as part of a years-long gutter guard test and it failed MISERABLY. 

The GutterBrush product clogged with maple-tree seed pods, oak tree blossoms, twigs, leaves, acorns and other organic debris. It did it in less than two years of exposure on my roof.

Most of the gutter guard products I tested FAILED. #COMPLETEFAILURE

If you want to see the product that WON my extensive test - and it worked so good I eventually put it on my own home - CLICK HERE.

You probably purchase gutter guards so you never have to get up and clean out your gutters, right? Guess what?

If you purchase many of these products, you WILL be up cleaning out your gutters or the clogged gutter guard product.

Why would the six home improvement information outlets lend their names and credibility to a product that doesn't really work well?

The bottom line is that you need to be VERY CAREFUL of home improvement celebrity endorsements. You need to ASK the celebrities, or their representatives, if they really tested the product, under what circumstances and how accurate was the test.

Although I can't prove it, I assume the reason you see the logos of the home improvement information outlets on the GutterBrush postcard is because GutterBrush purchased advertising from all of the outlets. It's called reciprocity.

You really need to be careful out there. This warning was shared with readers in the September 2, 2014 AsktheBuilder Newsletter.