I normally don’t rant, but this radio advert I was listening to in the car on the way to a client just got to me the other day. It goes something like this:
Her: “Honey, how come we don’t have as much money as our neighbours?”
Him: “Don’t know dear. But Jim just refinanced his mortgage with Northwood and they gave him a great rate.”
Her: “So why don’t you call them?”
Him: “I will!”
Her: “Great! Let’s go to the restaurant and celebrate our new mortgage payments.”
[rant mode on]
Me: [yelling at the radio in the car] Uh, maybe that’s why you have no frickin’ money, honey?
Dear Northwood Mortgage, I can assure you that I won’t be calling you when it’s time to renew mine and I’m looking for a broker to arrange one.
This ad bothers me on just so many levels with all sorts of messages. It’s sexist. It promotes the idea that your home is a piggy bank that allows you to live beyond your means (and isn’t that part and parcel of the mortgage crisis that has brought the US economy to a screeching halt?) And don’t get me started on the concluding line “oh let’s go spend money we don’t have on eating out celebrating a lower mortgage rate we don’t have yet (and may not get)”; that’s part the ticks me off the most (yes, let’s encourange even more reckless behaviour in a period of economic instability).
[rant mode off]
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Photo Credit: Loan Application by Eye Lens (via Stock.Xchng)