A Web series found throughout YouTube, Will It Blend? is a Viral Marketing campaign consisting of a series of infomercials demonstrating the Blendtec line of blenders, especially the Total Blender. In the show, Tom Dickson, the Blendtec founder, attempts to blend various items in order to show off the power of his blender.
And while they have listed things that shouldn't be blended, that hasn't stopped some people from trying this themselves...even after they've been specifically told not to. Tom and his blender appeared in the Weezer video "Pork And Beans"; after that, Tom returned the favor on the show by blending a can of pork and beans (can and all), along with a copy of Weezer's Red Album.
He and his blender have appeared on plenty of morning talk shows and the Discovery Channel, and even on the History Channel's Long Runner Modern Marvels. Will It Blend? itself is a long-runner, having premiered in 2006, and still releasing the occasional video ever since. As of 2024, the last episode was released in 2020.
Compare Is It a Good Idea to Microwave This?.
Trope dust! Don't breathe this!:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The Boron Steel episode (Ford Fiesta ad). "First I tried to saw it, drill through it, torch it... I even jumped on it."
- Big "NO!": Heard in the background when breaking the iPad and blending the iPhone.
- *Bleep*-dammit!: When the gang tries to return a video camera they blended
, they censor the store name. However, the colors of the store and reading the guys' lips make it fairly obvious it's Best Buy. - Body Horror: Tom pulling off his own hand in the "Tom's Hand" episode, and blending it into a bloody soup.
- Christmas Episode: "Christmas Dinner" and "Elf on the Shelf".
- Chroma Key: Whenever a green screen is used, it's normally parodied; for example, in the Ford Fiesta video, the view outside the car is changed from the Blendtec headquarters to various silent films of train crashes and bridge collapses, among other ridiculous things.
- Deceptively Simple Demonstration: It's actually easier to blend a hard item like a mobile phone or a golf ball than it is to perform normal blending tasks such as pureeing vegetables. A mobile phone isn't going to form a thick half-pureed liquid that coats the walls of the blender and leaves the blades spinning around in a bubble of air. However, they do blend some soft things as well as normal food items.
- Don't Try This at Home:
- And don't breathe this. They will distinguish the things you can try at home; those won't do more than make a minor mess in your blender.
- Taken to the next level in the Bic lighter episode. Tom even lampshades it.
Tom: You really don't wanna try this one at home. - Dualvertisement: One video was a cross-sponsor with Orabrush, who themselves were riding high off their own successful Viral Marketing campaign at the time.
- Fakeout Opening: One video seems to start off by trying to blend a crowbar — until someone's phone goes off, so the phones get blended instead.
- Foregone Conclusion: Most of the time, it will blend.
- Fun With Blenders: The premise.
- Halloween Episode: The "Skeleton" Episode and "Tom's Hand"
- Long-Runners: The first episode premiered in 2006, and the last episode to date premiered in 2020 - 14 years later.
- Loophole Abuse: Tom gets around dangerous warnings like "don't puncture or cut" with "well, it doesn't say don't blend!"
- Made of Indestructium: The "Blend Tec Total Blender" has been shown blending things such as a Nokia 3310 and a Nintendo Wiimote. It did fail to blend a Chuck Norris action figure & a block of boron steel, though.
- Product Placement: While the entire show is a plug for Blendtec, several companies have requested their products be blended for this purpose.
- Put a Face on the Company: Tom Dickson is the legitimate founder and CEO of Blendtec.
- Reality-Breaking Paradox: On December 21st,
2012, Tom decided to blend a Blendtec Total Blender, despite numerous warnings that the world would end if he did so. He did it anyway, stating "Like that's gonna happen". - Real Life Writes the Plot: Dickson's family members have sometimes influenced what he blends.
- Reduced to Dust: Almost every video involves grinding something to dust, and the host telling the audience not to breathe it in.
- Rockers Smash Guitars: Since Tom couldn't fit the Guitar Hero guitar into the blender, he did a Pete Townshend on it.
- Running Gag: Many items are supposedly chosen because they caused something bad to happen to Dickson.
- "Uncle Floyd was playing the Wii with the grandchildren, and while he was bowling - strapless - he destroyed another TV. So I am going to blend the strapless Wiis."
- Shout-Out: The "Will it blend? That is the question." as a reference to Hamlet.
- Take That!: In late 2012, a Vitamix plunger (which Blendtec's own products do not require) was blended in a video that addressed a patent suit against the company, who had
carbon-copied Blendtec's Wildside jar. The proceeds went toward a giveaway of the latter. - Thanksgiving Episode: The "Thanksgiving Dinner" special.
- Valentine's Day Episode: The "Annoying Valentines Gift" and "Valentine Roses" episode.
- "Yes, it blends!"
