Posted by
Paul Wamack on Sunday, May 25, 2008 1:31:53 PM
My kids are very fond of the Free Credit Report.com television commercials. Good for the advertisers! That's the whole point of the game. I'm not objecting to catchy little tunes or comical situations -- I too like some television commercials I have seen. These ads cost big bucks and are supposed to catch our attention. All this tells me is that the ad man who orchestrated this campaign was successful.
The commercial with the pirate in the tourist seafood restaurant is fun and the tune is totally catchy. The message is that many employers check credit reports before making their hiring decisions and that we consumers need to be vigilant about our credit file so that we can pass that hurdle on our way to our stellar careers. OK, that's basically true if a little slanted. But it's a commercial from the credit reporting folks so it's expected to be slanted in their favor. Lots of potential employers do check credit reports. Some also run larger background checks. So keeping everything tidy is probably a good idea. I have no problem with this first commercial.
Then the Free Credit Report.com folks put out a second commercial. This one is not cute and fuzzy; in fact, it drives me crazy! It's not nearly so tuneful, so my kids don't pay much attention. But it's like fingernails across a blackboard for me. Now, instead of being waiters in the tourist restaurant, our three intrepid boys are driving off the used car lot in a ratty blue car because (supposedly) they couldn't get a better car than the one they are shown driving. So what is the message this time? Well, first off, we consumers are supposed to sign up for their credit monitoring service so we will be able to get a larger car loan at will sometime in the future. If the boys had saved up their money BEFORE buying a car, the credit report would have made no difference. So obviously, the crux of the transaction on the car lot was getting a car loan and they fell short of their hopes and dreams, presumably because their 'credit was whacked.'
But secondly, it is our self-esteem and our attractiveness to those girls in the red convertible that is at stake if we are driving around in a car we can afford. He says his 'posse is getting laughed at' because of the car. So, let's see, we need to pay these credit monitoring service fees (there really isn't anything FREE about the FreeCreditReport folks) so that we can get a big loan for a fancy car so we can attract a bimbo in a red convertible who will keep us in debt for the rest of our lives -- is that about right? And if not for my own self esteem, I need to do this credit monitoring service and car loan thing so that my friends will not be embarrassed to be seen with me and maybe they can have a good shot at picking up fancy chickies.
So what they are selling is debt. Only there is a problem: there isn't anything good to be said about debt. After paying for the credit monitoring service, we will also be paying interest on the car loan and, if we buy a nice big car so that we don't have our 'feet ... through the vinyl,' we will also be paying for tons of gasoline and exorbitant insurance rates. Doesn't that sound attractive? ... umm, NO!
But I am reminded of a fellow I knew years ago. His father taught him something interesting when he was a young buck -- to give your date food, not flowers. They ran a seafood business. Present your date with some fresh fish fillets and watch her reaction. The laughing women in the red convertible from the FreeCreditReport commercial would wrinkle up their noses at the wet sack being presented (even though fresh fish should not smell ... at least not while it is still fresh). But a practical woman, a serious woman, is going to recognize the gift of food as something extremely useful. The look on his date's face told him instantly which one she was. Looks aren't going to last, but skills in cooking will.
This commercial is not selling anything practical. It's not offering good advice to young people. It's promoting debt. It's promoting spending on a service that will help you go deeper into debt at some point in the future. The message is just bad. But the credit monitoring service is offered by the same people who furnish those credit reports to the prospective lender, so of course they just love the whole money lending process. If there weren't so much money in writing loans, people wouldn't be led into carrying mountains of debt by catchy tunes in television ads.