[2] As well as launching the media career of presenter Tim Shaw, Demtel's ubiquitous presence on commercial television during its peak saw the name as well as various marketing tactics and slogans used by the company being adopted as tropes in Australian vernacular.
[5] In 1988, the Department of Business and Consumer Affairs took Demtel International to court over misleading advertisements that misrepresented plastic costume jewellery as genuine, valuable items.
This proved to be highly effective, driving sales of over 1,000,000 steak knives and 600,000 compact discs during his time with the company, while Shaw himself gained national fame and recognition as "the Demtel man".
[4] In July 1993, Demtel was sold by Hammer and Doughty to International Media Management (IMM), an ASX listed company with intentions of developing it into a stand-alone cable TV home shopping network.
[7] Within a year of sale, reports emerged of late payments to creditors by Demtel and legal disputes with the previous owners, causing IMM's share price to plummet.
[9] With IMM now focussing on this venture, Demtel's popularity waned in the late 1990s, competing with the rise of online services and emergence of dedicated home shopping networks.
[11] Demtel's business model involved purchasing bulk quantities of products, which it marketed by a telephone-order home shopping service, directly handling distribution from a central warehouse via regular post.
Demtel references occur in political commentary and analysis[12] as well as in parliament itself, with many examples including: In Australian rules football, the term "steak knives" is sometimes used to describe a deal sweetener, particularly in relation to player drafts.