Very often the products existed to solve a problem that wasnât remotely a problem, like âhey, do you ever find it a huge hassle to
pour cereal from a box?â
The thing is, SkyMall was a
blast. It was so consistently unhinged â
night-glow toilet seat! seabreacher customized boat! wine-glass-holder necklace! â that I began to look forward to thumbing through the catalogue while nursing a plastic tumbler of scotch. It was the high point of my flight.
Back then, I was somewhat baffled that anyone bought this crap. In retrospect, I can see that air travel â where people are sealed in a tube, hurtling through the sky, and trying to ignore the near-intimate contact of strangers â has a faintly Freudian quality thatâs probably psychologically well-torqued for surrealist impulse-buying. (SkyMallâs top-selling item ever? A âhand-painted designer resin Yeti statue.â)