Most infomercial products are not exactly bright ideas, but the Bright Light Pillow can shine through any dark night. 

The Bright Light Pillow is soft, cozy and filled with 24 LED lights, ready to be switched on at any moment. Give it a squeeze to turn it on. It’ll stay illuminated for 15 minutes, then automatically shut itself off as you begin to doze into dreamland.

With just three double-A batteries, the pillow will provide “hundreds of hours of soft light,” according to the infomercial.

All of these features are available for $19.99 plus shipping and handling.

By the looks of it, the Bright Light Pillow seems like a fun companion to anyone who doesn’t like sleeping in complete darkness, or anyone who likes to collect various as-seen-on-TV plush products.

… But, as always, infomercial products are not always as sparkling and perfect as they appear to be: The great majority of Amazon users’ critiques beg to differ. While most of the customers didn’t have many troubles with the product itself — in most cases, in fact, those who received it said it worked fine and was satisfactory — but they did not have nice words to say about the company itself.

Apparently, this company claims that the shipping time for the pillows will be 30 days or fewer, but this consistently was not the case. A number of users complained that even after six weeks or after two months, they still hadn’t received their lighted pillows. Once they called the company’s number, they found out that it could take even longer to get there. More than one of these dissatisfied customers then proceeded to cancel their order.

I can only wonder what is happening at Bright Light Pillow’s headquarters in Pacoima, California that would cause such a holdup on the orders. Maybe a tiger broke into the facility and ravaged the stock room, thus putting off people’s orders considerably. For all we know, there was an infestation of pillow-eating bugs that the workers bravely fought off, resulting in a two month-plus interruption of everyone’s orders.

Seeing as none of these stories made it onto the news (or at least none that I’ve heard), I can assume that nothing as extreme as this actually happened, and instead that perhaps the people in charge of shipping are just very unorganized.

…But I digress. There are other ways of acquiring the pillow besides going through the company’s disorderly shipping processes. For example, they are available in some Toys R Us and Bed Bath and Beyond stores (often for a cheaper price than the company’s $19.99 tag).

I think this pillow sounds fun, and I feel for the disappointed Amazon buyers who discovered that their much-sought-after pillows took months to arrive. I see the charm of having a light-up pillow to keep you company at night. The price tag is still a bit high in my opinion (I mean, it’s still only a pillow), but I like the idea. Like the infomercial illustrates, surely this pillow isn’t just for kids; it can be loved and appreciated by everyone.

So whether or not this article was helpful to your potential infomercial product buying needs, hopefully you still found it to be, if nothing else, enlightening.