We’ve all seen it. Ford and other car manufacturers offering 0% interest, as if they are doing consumers a favor… don’t they STILL get their money?
Gotta love it.
Cash in on the waving of Old Glory… is anyone else getting to the point of projectile vomiting over it?
What have YOU seen corporate consumer companies doing to cash in with Old Glory?
With the same ads I like the undercurrent of “Buy a new Pontiac and show those terrorists they can’t push YOU around!” If I squint and turn my head just…like…this I can see the connection.
Yeah, my company is pushing little flags for promotional gifts at auto dealerships in the spirit of… patriotism. Uh huh.
Byzantine: Don’t tell me you are surprised at the current corporate outpouring of “patriotism”. I must say though that 0% is kinda kick-ass!
Last night on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, Maher commented on the latest ad for Jeep-
“One hundred percent freedom, zero percent down.”
Ughh.
The flag stuff is a bit over the top for my tastes…but jump starting the economy (or, at least a sector of the economy) DOES some to be necessary. There was already signs of a recession (depending on one’s definition), and the events of Sept 11 made it worse.
Even with a federal guvmint aid package, I suspect that the airlines will have to find a similar way to get butts back in the seats as well.
Maybe I’m just cynical, and there really IS a good reason for this — but why must the local TV station who was doing a fundraising drive for the American Red Cross insist that everyone contributing write “WRAL Relief Fund” in the memo portion of their check if not to take credit for the donations of individuals? (They also did this a couple of years ago during a fundraising drive for Hurricane Floyd.) To my knowledge, there was no promise of their matching contributed funds, or any other reason to identify these separately from other donations other than self-aggrandizement.
I thought the funniest thing I saw in this respect was an ad in the Sunday paper about showing your patriotism to America by purchasing a new car from my local…
Honda and Nissan dealer. :rolleyes:^10
(I realize that some Hondas and Nissans (and for what it’s worth Toyotas) are partially or fully assembled in America, but you get my point.)
This stuff doesn’t bug me half as much as people who put out press releases announcing how much money they donated to a charity.
It’s ridiculous how every freaking lemonade stand has it’s own relief fund drives. Every ma and pop shop is scared that they’ll be the only store on the block who hasn’t done their duty and the populace will boycott them for it.
What I am disturbed by are the number of already-planned charity drives and benefits that are suddenly revising their plans so that 1/2 the money will go to 9/11 relief. I understand their desire to help out and to tap into people’s interest in a time when so many people wish to contribute… but other charities are hurting right now. Badly. It doesn’t help to suddenly slash their take from a benefit they were planning on.
The Jeep ad is pretty bad…but at least there’s some use for Jeeps.
What revolts me are the “Keep America Rolling” ads for Buick which not so subtly suggest that you’re doing your part for Old Glory by running out and spending big bucks on a fat-assed Buick. The last TV ad I saw paraded the entire line of Buicks across the screen - every last one of them a large, dorky, obese, overstuffed sofa on wheels. I suppose that if you’re a Q-tip with lots of disposable income and a penchant for seeing the U.S.A at 20 mph less than everyone else, these inflated monstrosities are the cat’s meow. But don’t make their buyers into patriots, for chrissake.
hey red! it may be worse than you think! did you know Nissan is owned by the stinkin’ FRENCH?!? (renault)
I didn’t want to say anything for the longest time because anyone who pointed out the perversity of some of those actions was called ‘pro-terrorist’.
To my shame, I have to admit, on the third day or so I was thinking how long it would take Hallmark to turn this truly tragic event into another American holiday.
You know, the Hallmark card that says: My love for you is stronger than man-made towers, in remembrance of 9/11.
It is just sick what some PR agencies get away with right now. BTW, great article in WSJ just about this topic.
Actually, if you want to get technical, no automobile is now built completely in the U.S. of parts fabricated in the U.S. – and Toyota was at one time a few years ago the only manufacturer which could validly make that claim. Although anyone viewing the use of parts made in Canada or Mexico or assembly there as being “unAmerican” is working on a definition of “American” I’d feel quite moved to flame.
The idea that strengthening the economy by investing, making new capital expenditures, etc., is helping to fight back is not totally without merit. But some of the businesses working their spin on it make me sick.
Although it is definitely head and shoulders above the February commercials in which Abe Lincoln and George Washington discuss the merits of Jeeps, Pontiacs, etc. Bleeechh!!
BTW, YWalker, how could you think that of our dear altruistic ratings-leading station? 
Although I might not choose a Ford, I think the 0% is good for people who don’t have a mortgage for a tax deduction. Some people couldn’t care less about the ad. They’re just trying to survive.
Just saw two ridiculous ads in a row that fall right in line with this subject. The first was from the “American Historical Coin Society” (whatever that is) offering a commemorative coin with a “gracefully colorized image” of the three firefighters raising the flag at the WTC. This was followed by an ad for the “unique and beautiful” God Bless America flag (a US flag in a white circle on a blue background with the words “God Bless America” around it). As far as I am concerned, 0% financing is just good economic sense, but a firefighter coin is cashing in on patriotism.
I think it from a different angle, aka from the OP, not the other stuff that’s been said.
We were in a certified recession before the attacks. The economy took a serious nose dive after the attacks, even the Federal Reserve reduced rates to precentages we haven’t seen in 40 years or something like that, I could be wrong, 40 years sticks out at me though. People are afraid and don’t want to spend money.
The companies that promote low or no interest rates, I truly believe are doing so not just for thier own benefits but to get the economy moving again.
Think about it…every thing we decide not to buy because of what happened and if the stock market crashed means tons of people with little or no work. It’s a trickle down economy.
If the companies that are large companies don’t get in gear and try to stimulate the economy then we are sunk, farther than we were the Monday after the attack when the markets reopened. We can’t let people sulk and not go about business as usual. It is important that big business and small business alike do their best to get back to normal.
No while I got on somone’s wimply ass for pissing on the so-called Yuppies in another thread, it is important for all to realize that we are in an economic slump, worse than it could have been had it not been for the attacks. I am all for consumerism at this time so long as it’s not blamed on a group of people.
But look Byz, they will face layoffs if people don’t buy their products, whatever industry it is. If people don’t get off their asses and spend a little money here and there, our economy will become worse than it is. I am thankful to see the stock exchange rise by a little here and there but please don’t see it as a means by which to “cash on Patriotism,” as it goes further than just a commercial on TV. We need to keep our economy going, and strong as we can.
If the airline industry suffers an economic problem it filters to travel agents, hotel workers (all,) to restaurant workers, to taxi cabs, to the small boutiques…consider the car industry, the second largest $ amount a person will spend…if people don’t buy cars, the auto assemblers lose jobs, the small companies that provide them parts lose jobs or lose their business to the dealers workers including title clerks to Account Payable…etc.
You name it, if our businesses can’t make some sacrafices, and yes this is a sacrafice for many, it goes downward. It’s bad in every way…a business needs to stay in business to keep workers to spend, etc.
So if you all can’t think of it that way then please place the mute on the TV when you see an ad. I wish I had the credit so I could get a new car with 0% interest or a new/older home at the moment, not just for me but to help in my small way to get back the economic force we are in this world.
I once heard a story about how Nike donated $150,000 to a scholarship fund, and spent $300,000 promoting the donation…
I love it! 
“It’s 100% American! It’s completely manufactured in Brazil!!!” heehee