Priceless
Posted on April 21, 2007 20 Comments
By now you’ve all seen that debit MasterCard commercial about the peep-toe pumps and pedicure. You know, the one where the girl gets a pedicure and then spends $96 on shoes and $150 on a dress, all to show off her toes? It’s a great ad, because it always makes me want to go out and get all three. However, its message, “living in the moment…priceless,” bothers me every time I see the ad.
Although it’s nice that advertisers continue to take notice of the purchasing power of today’s women, I have yet to see an ad from a savings or investing institution that features women in their 20′s and 30′s. (Please, correct me if I’m wrong.) The message continues to be, spend, spend, spend. Live in the moment. I have to remind myself that this ad is for a debit card, and not credit, which I guess makes it somewhat better. It’s not as though MasterCard is encouraging you to make purchases you can’t afford on your credit card. At least not intentionally in this instance.
But back to the message… Maybe this “live in the moment” attitude is what makes it so difficult for women to save and plan ahead for retirement. We work hard, and we feel we deserve to be rewarded now for our troubles. But living in the moment won’t help us plan for retirement. It won’t earn interest. It won’t help us purchase a home of our own. It may help us look cute now, but beauty, as we all know, is fleeting. That pedicure won’t last more than a week, but the money you could have saved by doing it yourself and not buying the dress will last a whole lot longer in your 401k or IRA.
I should probably lay off on the commercial. After all, I went to Marshall’s today and spent $16 on a pair of work pants and $20 on a new office-appropriate shirt, less than two weeks after a discount-shopping spree at an outlet mall (yikes… have I no self control???). Maybe I’m more angry at myself for spending money that I should have saved. Next time I see that commercial, I’ll try to assume the peep-toe pump girl just got a raise or something, so she can afford all those nice things. After all, she does avoid the Tiffany’s necklace. That’s gotta count for something.
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20 Responses to “Priceless”
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April 22nd, 2007 @ 3:15 pm
Perhaps if moms and sisters and aunts and grandmas didn’t teach young girls that shopping is an event, that you don’t need to be looking for something in order to go shopping, that shopping is something you do when you feel bad that women wouldn’t be so easily swayed by MC commercials.
[I (fortunately?)detest shopping, whether I need something new or not (except shopping for books...)]
Or maybe if we teach girls that they are strong and independent instead of sweet and need help that they won’t grow up thinking they don’t need to know things about financese because their husbands will take care of it.
Anything I was taught about finances (precious little) was from my dad. Mom knew nothing, as far as I could tell. I remember dad taking her credit cards and cutting them up … more than once. There are a lot of powerful messages in that…
April 22nd, 2007 @ 4:03 pm
I agree that ad is super annoying. It’s like a woman’s only “job” is to look as pretty as possible so she can snag a man, then he’ll take care of all the important financial stuff.
April 22nd, 2007 @ 9:00 pm
I haven’t seen that ad, but it sounds pretty typical. One that’s not, though, and it made it me smile, is the ING one where the guy interrupts a woman about to buy a $9000 dollar purse, and tells her to save her cash ’cause she’ll feel better in the long run. Nice to see at least one ad promoting savings.
April 23rd, 2007 @ 5:57 am
I’d rather have rebounder than the 96 dollar shoes oe good bakewear.
Does that make me weird?
I like my imitation crocs more than 500 dollar shoes
I have not seen the add. I don’t even have basic cable. This is a choice. I see enough ads on the net.
April 23rd, 2007 @ 8:27 pm
I am in complete agreement, and had the same thoughts when I saw this commercial. When I heard the guy say “living in the moment – priceless” I was sick. No wonder we are a nation in debt…because of this propaganda telling us how great it is to go out and spend for a fleeting moment of happiness!
April 23rd, 2007 @ 10:32 pm
I admit, I really enjoy that ad, but I could never be that impulsive. However, lately I’ve seen a slew of lectures on “Personal Finance for Generation Y,” “Investments are a Girl’s Best Friend” and “Women’s Personal Finance,” so I think there’s a awareness that that kind of information is needed.
April 24th, 2007 @ 12:27 am
Agreed… I feel as though everyone my age (young 20s) is out spending and having a great ball of a time.. but no one has started saving for retirement yet. My one friend gets a reprieve because she owns a house at such a tender age, but the rest of them….!! I only wish I was given great financial wisdom at a younger age than when I finally “got it”…:( I’d have so much in retirement and savings, it wouldn’t be funny…
April 24th, 2007 @ 6:25 pm
Hi Budgeting Babe,
Like your blog. I know what you mean about credit card ads, I’ve been blogging about them too.
There’s an ad screening in NY about going ‘Downtown’ to cheer yourself up when you’ve got a broken heel. A frumpy girl gets a pink, dress, pink shoes etc, then dances around in the street enjoying her makeover. The message? “Live life”, meaning you’re living if you’re shopping. Worry about the interest rates later. Interesting how a lot of these ads are targeted at women…
April 24th, 2007 @ 6:52 pm
Hi there – this is the first time I’ve ever commented on a blog! Wow! Anyway, I just had to throw into the conversation the fact that women always get stereotyped as the big shoppers, but in fact men spend more on most discretionary items than women. There was a recent article about this in Time that was pretty enlightening – men outspend women on cars, eating out, alcohol, and “audiovisual gear,” whatever that is. We outspend them on clothing, but only by about $200/year, whereas they beat us in those other categories but a total of about $2000. Of course it would be better if everyone saved more & spent less on the silly stuff, but how come we always get the guilt trips and the stereotyped ads?
April 24th, 2007 @ 10:17 pm
I’m so happy that I’m not the only one that feels that way… the one where the girl breaks the heal is really annoying since it gives the impression that money can solve all of your problems.
I agree with Indigo though… my debt was created by my husband and not me! Of course it’s also me that’s pushing us to get out of debt since I keep close tabs on our finances. As nice as it would be to go get a pedicure, new dress, shoes, etc… the long term satisfaction isn’t there (ok, it was for my wedding, but that’s about it!).
April 25th, 2007 @ 2:38 am
It seems that heavy spending has always been a feature of those priceless campaign. My boyfriend and I cringe when we see the one with the engagement ring that costs $9,000 or so.
I really don’t like how society reinforces shopping and women. Once I got my job, I found myself unable to shop for sport or hobby especially when I’m moving into a smaller apartment and have to consolidate a lot of stuff that I don’t need.
April 25th, 2007 @ 3:05 pm
I have seen the ad and am bothered by its message. I don’t have cable anymore; the major networks are running the ad. It would be nice to see more ads promoting savings and retirement for women. Seems like there are an awful lot of them that show a couple sitting together, or a well-dressed man sitting at a table with other well-dressed men, talking about investing and retirement options. Ads that target single working women and our financial options would be great to see, something to counter the silly “living in the moment” debit card thing.
Great post and great blog; I really appreciate your take on this issue and others.
April 25th, 2007 @ 5:07 pm
I’ve seen a variety of these types of commercials (for Mastercard, I think it is) and this particular one seems to be more offensive, to me, for some reason, perhaps because it portrays women as dumb and shallow. I also think it plays into the old stereotypical mantra that if we’re pretty enough and desirable enough (i.e. “play our cards right”), we’ll attract the rich guy and then we can live happily ever after to shop till we drop (dead).
I agree with what the other posters have said, that no wonder we are a nation drowning in personal and governmental debt. I think we’ve been taught, and bought, a national credo that says that spending money equals happiness. And it seems to me that as a nation we don’t really have a soul any more; we’ve replaced that soul joy and depth with the momentary high that comes after purchasing something new.
I really enjoy your blog and your take on things as well. Thanks!
April 26th, 2007 @ 10:31 pm
Hi, enjoy your blog. I don’t think you should beat yourself up for buying discount work clothes. We have to wear something! and working at keeping the costs down is what frugality is all about. I’ve found shopping is a lot like eating sugar-the more you do it the more you want to do it. I stopped random “boredom induced” shopping a year ago and feel great. I buy things when I need to replace them. Now if I could only do the same with eating sweets!
May 13th, 2007 @ 4:05 am
First, I am not a pig. Second, most women in their 20′s don’t save, have no interest in financial publications, and prefer to shop. My job tells me so, by the numbers. Keep preaching saving, investing and intelligence. Perhaps you may make a difference in someone else.
Also, have you seen the “Downtown” Visa ads? It makes my 20′s saving wonderful wife want to hurl…
I wish you the best.
May 25th, 2007 @ 1:52 pm
Some young female PF bloggers should get together and make our own financial commercial.
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