Ed McMahon and MC Hammer poked fun at their financial woes in a commercial that aired for the first time during Super Bowl XLIII.
The commercial is for the company Cash4Gold, and the former Tonight Show sidekick seemed to make the perfect pitchman. After all, McMahon famously came close to losing his home to foreclosure in 2008, and the rap star is famous for squandering millions on his lavish lifestyle.
The Cash4Gold commercial was considered one of the most effective Super Bowl ads, but before consumers take McMahon and Hammer's advice on selling gold for cash, INSIDE EDITION encourages viewers to check out the company.
Recently, INSIDE EDITION's Senior Investigative Correspondent Matt Meagher asked master appraiser and jewelry expert Don Palmieri to assemble a collection of gold, 23 pieces in all, to sell to the company Cash4Gold.
Each piece was weighed and analyzed with precision instruments to determine exact gold content, and laser etched for identification purposes.
Based on the going rate for gold at the time of INSIDE EDITION's investigation, Palmieri and a second independent expert said we should get between $975 to $1,200 for the 23 pieces of gold in our collection.
So we sent the gold off to Cash4Gold to see how much they would pay. About a week later, a check came for just $209.81. Expert Don Palmieri laughed when he saw the amount. "It's not a very good offer," he said.
When INSIDE EDITION called to turn down the offer, Cash4Gold nearly doubled it instantly to more than $400, still much less than the experts said it was worth.
In a phone call to INSIDE EDITION, Cash4Gold's CEO Jeff Aronson defended the way the company does business.
"Gold is worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it," Aronson said. "If somebody doesn't want to accept an offer, all they do is send it back and get their merchandise back."
Cash4Gold must be doing something right. The company's 30-second Super Bowl spot cost an estimated $3 million just to air. There has been no word on what McMahon and Hammer were paid, but Aronson says they are not only spokesman for the company but they are both customers.