Misguided Commercials

It is no secret that commercials seem to forget what happens in the real world. Their depictions of everyday life are often beyond laughable. One that seems to repeat itself is just how much money companies seem to think that the average person has on hand at any given time.

A recent bank commercial that inspired this post depicted someone going to the store and buying a little more than was on their list. How much more? Well, that was the joke as we heard the back up sounds of a large truck backing into their driveway. The implication was that this guy could just go out on a whim and buy a truck load worth of merchandise just like that. Absolutely no one in my circle of friends is capable of spending that much at one time. Not that they would have on hand in their bank account anyway, which was what this commercial implied.

Another recent one has a daughter asking dear old dad for concert tickets, and because dad gets double points or something for each purchase, he offers to take every friend she has, he'll go, and take his friend as well. Nothing in this commercial suggests he is anything above average, yet he apparently has a fortune tucked away somewhere.

When I thought about this further, I realized that businesses do actually think this about their average consumer. Anytime I sat through any class on sales, they always told us that a no answer was not a true no, but just a request for more information. They believed that if you pushed hard enough, the person would see the value in the product and always buy it. They never believe that a no means that they do not have the money.

When I had to deal with collection agencies back when I was really broke, I told one that I was unable to pay, and he made a big point of saying that he noted that I refused to pay. That is what companies think of us. We are all sitting out here with millions of dollars at our disposal and just not buying from them. They believe if they push hard enough they will get us to buy something.

Personally, I am on a limited budget, and I cannot simply spend lots and lots of cash on just anything. And unless my ship really comes in, I can't see me buying a truck load of anything.

Come on. That's just silly.