The Money Mustache Community
Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: sleepyguy on August 31, 2014, 09:24:15 AM
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I RARELY watch tv, but I was watching the USOpen then this laughable commercial came up... haha. My GF/SO was asking wtf was so funny... lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vyQ826DJsw
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"Yes... good consumer... give in to your childish urges to have everything now now now... and with a payment plan you can do the spending without the initial feeling of pain, so no inhibitions!"
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I liked the interventions, just not the ending.
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That commercial boggles my mind. Get anything, you can pay it off over time, So really Fingerhut is a bank disguised as a store. Just like Sears.
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+1
That was pretty funny - in all respects.
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I liked the interventions, just not the ending.
I completely agree. I thought it was fantastic....riiiiight up until they actually mention the service that they are trying to advertise. Freakin' love the idea of a budget tackling you to keep you from buying stupid shit though :p
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Back in my dark days in Big Box Retail, a common phenomemon I encountered among people who were lifetime store employees was a reliance on places like Fingerhut and "Rent to Own".
It would go something like this.
"You rent to own a computer?"
"Yes, it's only $20 every two weeks."
"So $40 or $60 a month, or $520 a year. And how long before you own it?"
"Just two years!"
"You realize that the same laptop you just told me about is on the shelf in our store for $420. You can buy it with a ten percent discount and pay about three hundred eighty. You could literally pay just over a third of what that item actually costs if you didn't rent to own."
The typical response is yeah but my credit cards are all maxed out...
And it would break down from there. You can't get the point across that they're getting a bad deal because these people are not operating on logic once their lives have gotten this corrupted.
I mean I'm not better than those people, I used to do fuzzy "math" to justify my own stupidity too so I understand the psycological motivation to lie to yourself and not delay gratification, etc.
But when the situation is that everything you have in life is "acquired" this way it's beyond pitiful and has crossed into bile fascination.
I'm very libertarian in outlook, I don't think anyone should "stop" these people from transacting business as they see fit, but I do wish the people who provide these "services" would stop and think about what they are doing to a human being who has been conditioned to accept what is essentially abuse. But then places like Fingerhut would probably close down completely.
All I can do is resolve to never profit from the emotional and financial turmoil of others.