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There will probably be a huge surge in interest in the Hyundai Assurance Program after its advertisement during the Superbowl.  Here’s an overview of the program and analysis of whether it’s worth considering.

How It’s Advertised:

Buy a new Hyundai and you can return it within a year if you lose your job with no impact on your credit rating.

Program Details from Hyundai:

Eligible Events to Return Your Vehicle

• Involuntary Unemployment
• Physical Disability
• Loss of Driver’s License due to Medical Impairment
• International Employment Transfer
• Self-Employed Personal Bankruptcy
• Accidental Death

Other Terms

• You have to lease or finance the purchase through Hyundai
• The covered event must happen in the first year
• Your loan must be current and at least two payments must be made
• If you have more than $7,500 in negative equity, you pay the difference

Analysis

The first feature of the program that strikes me is that in order to be eligible

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TheLadders.com, the job site for positions in the $100K per year range, ran an interesting experiment.  They placed $100,000 in a glass box and left it out in public to see the response.  Hidden cameras captured what unfolded.

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We have long heard the positive benefits of getting more rest, yet many of us still get much less than we need. Trying to capitalize on this “reality”, Sealy Posturepedic, the well known mattress company, has a new print and media campaign urging you to “Get a Better 6.” Watch The Better 6 TV spots.

The idea behind the campaign is that if you can only get 6 hours of sleep a night, you should get the most restful sleep possible, presumably on one of their new mattresses. While I can’t fault them for marketing to people who have given up hope, their ads are akin to saying, “since I can’t give up fast food, I’ll try to eat at the healthiest fast food restaurant.” While that is better than the alternative, it detracts from the actual solution to the problem, eating healthy food (or getting sufficient rest).

You may wonder why I’d cover getting enough sleep on a personal finance blog. First of all,

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Budweiser has been running an ad showing an old refrigerator being moved to the garage when the new one is purchased. It says that although it doesn’t have a water dispenser or an ice-maker, it has plenty of room for what’s really important, i.e. Cold Beer. While the ad is entertaining and does make a good point about reuse and storage capacity, it fails to consider one of the main reasons we replace appliances today: improved energy efficiency. We will only see our electric bills go down if we replace appliances with more energy efficient ones. Adding a new appliance, even one that is energy star compliant, while still running the old one will cause our electric bill to go up.

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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)

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Chrysler recently announced the Let’s Refuel America program which locks in gas prices at $2.99 per gallon. Here’s a clip from the press release followed by an analysis of whether the deal is worth it.

From the press release: “In response to direct customer feedback citing the prospect of rising gas prices as a top concern, Chrysler LLC today announces its own economic stimulus package: an exclusive gas price protection policy that eliminates the risk of further spikes in fuel prices. With the U.S. purchase of eligible Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles, customers can enroll in the “Let’s Refuel America” program and receive a gas card that immediately lowers their gas price to $2.99 a gallon, and keeps it there for three years. The offer is available at 3,511 U.S. Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealerships through June 2, 2008, and is available on vehicles ranging from popular new compacts, crossovers and minivans to full-size diesel-powered pickup trucks.”

The analysis:

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Portion sizes have gotten so out of control that you often get enough for a small family when you order an individual entree. Sure, you can take leftovers home to eat the next day, but I’d rather not have to pay so much to get more food than I really want. In the past, I’ve said that I would gladly pay more than half price to get half as much food when I eat out.

That’s why I was so excited to hear about T.G.I. Friday’s Right Portion, Right Price menu. Restaurants have traditionally only offered smaller portions and prices at lunch time, if at all. The Friday’s program is all day, every day. I hope that other restaurants follow this innovative idea. I don’t eat out much, but when I do I would definitely consider going to T.G.I Fridays to get just the amount that I want at a more reasonable price.

The advertisement announcing this program isn’t available on YouTube at the moment.  I’ll add it to this post when and if it gets added there.

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.”

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One thing you notice when you watch a lot of golf on tv is that the same commercials are repeated over and over ad nauseum. This past week was no exception. I must have seen the ING Your Number commercial at least 10 times. Clearly their marketing tactic worked, because I did indeed go to their website.

The premise of the commercial is that everyone has a number that correlates to the amount they’ll need to have saved to retire when and how they want. In the ad, people are carrying around a physical number. By going to the website, you can calculate your number and then find a new financial professional in your area or email it to your existing one.

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