I get one of these at the tea shop when I'm feeling particularly bad about myself. You mean I can have that kind of convenient self-loathing without having to leave my poorly-lit, claustrophobic apartment!?
Pretty much every commercial on TV is a minor variation of:
"Your life sucks. These people are using the product, and are now happy. Buy it and you'll somehow find the meaning and happiness in your life."
Often the change in mood they depict has nothing to do with the product's uses. Like a commercial I saw recently where a guy has a bad relationship with his wife and is unhappy with his job, but then gets a smartphone and everything's better. Possibly because the phone helps him hide his new affair, we're just left to speculate on the correlation.
Honestly, isn't bad for what is essentially a turning slicer. I used one a lot for a lot of salad garnishes and stuff for buffets. They can be pricey. http://www.cutleryandmore.com/benriner/pro-turning-slicer-p114707? src=Shopping&cam=Products&kw=14707
That said, I have little to no use for one at home, so yeah...
I have a little gadget that only cost me three bucks and does the same thing. It's just a little blade with an auger on one end and a ring on the other. You put the auger in the potato and, using your finger in the ring, twirl the blade through the potato.
I've never thought of putting the end result on a stick and frying it, though. I usually just make a cut with a knife from one end to the other splitting the spiral into little scalloped potatoes.
Possible trend: all novelty junk-food appliances are eventually demonstrated with an apple as the token healthy thing you can fry/bake/dehydrate with it.