There’s a Cadillac ad for the 2008 Escalade featuring Brian Bloom that gives terrible financial advice. The actor says that life is “high school with money” and that following what the cool kids are doing, including what they are driving, is still going on. The ad concludes with him saying that anyone who never cared about impressing the cool kids should “graduate.”
The end of high school was indeed a time to change habits and mindset. Unfortunately, the ad gets the change completely backwards. Those things that may have mattered to some people in high school, namely what the cool kids were doing, are quickly forgotten after graduation. When you’re in high school, you are a captive audience with a limited amount of people who can influence your life. Once you move past that, a new world of opportunity emerges.
The ad from Cadillac tries to transition people from keeping up with the cool kids to keeping up with the Joneses. Neither behavior is particularly smart. Just like it’s normally the non-cool kids who have the last laugh at the 25 year reunion, so too will those who live within their means find the most financial success in life. Buying a new Cadillac to impress your friends may make you feel good about yourself, but it isn’t likely to make you look very smart. Those who know anything about money are probably snickering behind your back. There are certainly people out there who can afford to drive a Cadillac, and if that’s the car they choose, I have no problem with that. But to buy a car, or anything else for that matter, mainly for the social status it projects is the quick way to financial ruin.
I’d like to think that we could move beyond the drama of high school and put less stock in what other people think. Part of Cadillac’s slogan is “the Persuit.” The persuit is part of the journey, but by making sound financial decisions and avoiding the temptation of spending beyond your means to impress others, you actually have a chance of ending the persuit by reaching your financial destination.
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April 22nd, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I agree. This ad is nothing if not a total paradox. On one hand, they’re implying that you shouldn’t care what other people think. On the other hand, they go out of their way to make their car (and by extension you) appear cool, smart, and evolved.
No one looks smart buying a $50k car that gets 18 MPG. That’s the kind of stupidity that only a high schooler can rationalize.
June 6th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
The commercial means to say that if you want to stop trying to keep up….then start by getting “ahead” with this beautiful SUV. If you can afford it. Great. If you can’t. Then don’t. THe guy in the spot ( Brian Bloom) is sexy and cool with an awesome voice and eyes. Don’t be jealous cause you can’t afford the car and you don’t look or sound like Bloom. Few do. It means you no harm. It sells nothing more than a new Luxury SUV that definitely has some status to it. Adult status. No high schooler could afford one. But a successful adult with money can. Real simple. Its saying. “Step up” if you want to or care to. Nothing to evil there unless I’m missing something.
July 29th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Actually, the advertisement gives very good financial advice, if you listen to the dialogue. The picture is clearly promoting an expensive gas guzzler, but not one *WORD* they say is bad advice.
The message of the commercial is that everyone goes to great lengths to keep up with the Joneses, and that you shouldn’t do that. Good advice. The words would actually be very good in a commercial for a Honda or Ford Focus. Of course, it then shows pictures of an impressive looking expensive car, and implies that you should “buy this instead”. It seems to be implying that this car is a better choice then other “trendy” cars. I’m not sure what it is implying the Escalade is an alternative to. A BMW?
The company seems to be hoping we’ll respect the guy because of his good advice, then “Do what he does, not what he says”.