Most of the advertisements reviewed on Richer by the Day are directly related to personal finance. Budweiser’s Swear Jar ad inspires further discussion, though it doesn’t directly deal with personal finance. In the ad, office workers, who are required to place 25 cents in a jar each time they swear, beginning swearing a lot when they hear the money will be used to buy Bud Light.
Watch the ad, sourced from YouTube. (The ad contains censored profanities)
The method of filling a coin jar to “pay” for swearing was used famously by Homer Simpson in a popular episode. By the time he had finished trying to build a doghouse, he had collected enough in his swear jar to purchase a dog house. He even had enough left over to buy a 6-pack of beer which brings this example to a fitting conclusion.
The benefits of a coin jar were discussed in a previous post. The Budweiser ad begs the question about what would motivate us to save in such a way. There are a few different drives at work in the ad.
One is the penalty for a bad habit. By supplementing a bad habit like swearing with a good one like saving, we are able to add a postive spin to the habit. Also, because bad habits tend to be more pleasant than good ones, the pain of saving may help reduce the bad habit.
A second point of the ad is that given the right reward, we would take actions that allow us to receive that reward. This is why I believe it is so important to reward ourselves for good behaviour, like sticking to a budget. A little reward will cost a lot less than being unmotivated to save at all.
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