I'll take a side of Amish craftsmanship with my celebrity gossip

While watching my E Daily 10 this morning over my breakfast of orange slices, eggs, and a chocolate chip cookie, I was engrossed in a commercial for the Amish Built Heat Surge.  It's a fireplace that you plug in.  Numerous things about this commercial confounded me.

1. I thought the Amish didn't use electricity and these are electric fireplaces.  Even if they don't use them, is it cool to condone other people's usage?

2. What the heck are the Amish doing advertising on tv?  Ok, so maybe the spokesperson wasn't Amish, but Amish people definitely appeared in the commercial and they are definitely going to profit from the publicity.

3. I swear one of the Amish dudes was wearing a Gap polo...

More power to the Amish for milking our free market system for what it's worth - I just thought it was against some of their principles. Oh and when I was verifying their rule against power-line electricity on wikipedia I was reminded that the Amish don't accept any form of government assistance or even Social Security.  That's pretty rad.

Comments

[Allison]

Perhaps the Amish people only make the wood exterior to the fireplace -- they are known for fab wood work.

Regardless, it's weird. The Amish people stuck to selling quilts and baked goods. The baked goods were DELICIOUS!

[Katie S]

Also, does something look eerily photoshopped about the photos they give on the site? Maybe the orange flames really are THAT bright a shade of parking cone orange, but they just struck me as a tad off

[Jim]

I saw that commercial and all I could think was "Don't trust an electric heater from people who don't use electricity."

[Trish]

So I'm not the only one? My first thought was, "I thought the Amish didn't allow their pictures to be taken?"
I do think they are only supposed to be making the wood mantels, not the heaters, but still...well, maybe they're Mennonites, not Amish.

[Chris Pugh]

We’re an established company with millions of satisfied customers whose focus is to exceed customer expectations.

To accomplish this, along with other successful methods, we’ve set up a Web site to share the facts about our company at http://heatsurge.wordpress.com to address any questions or concerns you may have.

Those who make the mantles are absolutely Amish. This is addressed here. http://heatsurge.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/mantles-are-amish-made/