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Dissing on annoying, irritating local celebrity pitch people 


By Johnny Trlica

Commentary: Business owners who hawk their own products are taking risks. Often, the owner is not the best person to sell a product, especially if they are unlikeable and tend to get on one’s last nerve. What’s worse is when a merchant invokes God as a reason to buy from them. Using God’s name to pitch a product is offensive to many people. 

Houston television is home to three of the most irritating, annoying and successful salespeople on planet earth.  

SuperNova is super irritating

Whether she is riding a horse through the showroom of one of her furniture stores or dressed as Uncle Sam with fireworks a blazing, Ana Abrahams is anything but dull. This local retail icon has an amazing story to tell but that doesn’t make her commercials any less annoying.  

At 19, Ana left her home and family in Ecuador to come to the United States to pursue a new life. She entered the University of Houston and during her attendance there, she worked three jobs taking care of personal and educational expenses.  

After a brief stint in Virginia, she returned to Houston.  

In 1984, Ana began working part-time in the furniture industry. Eventually furniture sales became her full-time job, and she opened a booth at a flea market. That success eventually led to a brick-and-mortar store and now she has five locations in Houston, Katy and Rosenberg. 

Ana says, “I do not want my children to remember me as just a person who owned a furniture store, but rather as one who developed strong and powerful companies in order to make the world a better place.â€Â 

She and her husband have always “had a dream of building and supporting a non-profit hospital and research facility to help the children of our community and the world. We dream of supporting doctors and scientists in their research and development of new cures for the ills of our little ones. It was this dream that was the cause of my company’s expansion from the first very small, but profitable store, to what is now the most well-known furniture company in Houston’s Hispanic community. Little did I know, way back then, what a magnificent force this small community would soon become.â€Â 

Ana is to be commended for her life’s work but it’s hard to get past her irritating commercials. 

River Oaks dealership deals a train wreck

Ugh! Alan Helfman, the GM and chief car kicker at River Oaks Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram puts the cringe in cringe worthy. His high-energy pitch may be commendable, but his commercials are like watching a train wreck; you watch it only because you cannot believe how dreadful it is. Instead of buying a car, you may be more inspired to walk out to your garage, pick up a sledgehammer and pound away on the TV.  

Adding Georgia Provost to the mix brings nothing to the table. It is commendable that she and Helfman have worked together for over 25 years on charitable causes, but she frequently looks embarrassed at his antics. Hey, Georgia, ditch the dancing queen and do the commercials without him. 

Mattress Mack: Stick to saving us money

Many consumers judge a business by the causes they contribute to and support. Chick-fil-A has endured boycotts from the LGBTQ+ community for years after it was discovered to have donated millions of dollars to anti-LGBT groups, and President Dan Cathy’s hostile remarks against marriage equality. 

When it comes to irritating and annoying commercials, the undisputed king is Mattress Mack. Whether he is dressed as a mattress or jumping up and down with a fistful of dollars while screaming “Save you money!†his salesmanship is legendary. 

No one will deny Jim McIngvale’s philanthropic work for the Huston area. The generosity he has shown during hurricanes, floods and other disasters are no small feats. But like Chick-fil-A, he should not be lionized because of his record of contributing to anti-LGBTQ+ groups, right wing nuts and causes. 

His support for anti-gay Republican Alexandra del Moral Mealer’s bid to oust Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo was bad enough, but now he has joined her, and two dozen other losing Republican candidates, in contesting the outcome.  

Mattress Mack bought in to Donald Trump’s lies and election fraud conspiracy theories. After Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, McIngvale delayed payouts to customers, who correctly predicted a Biden victory. He said the wait was due to the fact he believed the results of the election could change, but conceded those odds were always “very small,†reported Click2Houston.com. 

He should spend more time focused on his obvious gambling addiction instead of betting on Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Lauren Boebert and Madison Cawthorn with campaign contributions. 

Any business that starts a commercial with, “God, family, duty, country, and a strong work ethic,†like a promo Gallery Furniture is currently running on local TV, usually bears a great deal of scrutiny. The Republican Party has claimed to have those morals for years and look how that turned out. 

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent those of the Montrose Star. Johnny Trlica is the editor of Houston Rainbow Herald Facebook page and has been published in several newspapers and magazines. He grew up in Rosenberg, Texas, lived for over 30 years in the Montrose and now resides in Galveston, Texas. He may be contacted at [email protected]. 

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