I’ve always liked Suze Orman. I read her columns (Costco and the local paper) and have heard her on the radio many times. She gives advice on how people should manage their financial lives and its always pretty good. So imagine my surprise when I saw this ridiculous commercial:
My jaw dropped to the floor. Not only is she selling out by promoting a luxury car brand, but in the commercial, she scolds someone for looking at an expensive article of clothing: “That’s not a dress, that’s an emotional money mistake.” So, buying a luxury dress is unacceptable, but a luxury car is OK? To top off the whole disaster, she ends by chiding the woman buying the dress to “Spend smart!”
But wait, it doesn’t stop here! At the end of the commercial, the voiceover says, “Listen to the voice of reason.” What!? Really?!? The voice of reason is actually the voice of insanity!
Let’s take a deeper look…
In the commercial, Suze is driving an Acura TL. This car starts out at $35,905. The TL is based off of the Accord which starts out at $21,680:
Developed mainly in the United States by a team led by Erik Berkman with bodywork by American Honda designer Jon Ikeda, the new TL was built in Marysville, Ohio, and was derived from the 7th generation US-market Honda Accord.
So, you’re paying $14,000 more for a fancy name and extra leather. Whoop dee doo I say.
There is nothing most people waste more money on than cars. It is about the only thing you can easily spend $30,000 dollars on that will be worth $0 in 15 years. Expensive cars just aren’t a good idea. I can’t believe Ms. Orman sold out like this, especially when it goes directly against advice she has dispensed many times.
No wonder I hardly watch any TV.
I’ve started following your blog since the new year and I’m enjoying it. I wish I had energy for my own blog. I’m a quiet lurker MMM-type.
I’m wondering if MMM will ever sell out? I was impressed when he removed the credit card ads from which he was making thousands a month…
Rodent
Thanks for reading!
Yes, I was pretty surprised when I read that MMM gave up 4K/month. If you consider he gave up tons of income and stock options to retire when he did, its not surprising though. In my opinion, his website is the manual on how it should be done. I’m still making my way through all of his posts.
I was not upset by Ms. Orman’s car ad but by the prepaid debit card she stuck her name on. We all know that she is paid for a car ad and that she is a finance expert and not a car expert but when she put her name on a gimmicky financial services product (the Kardashians had something similiar) I was disapointed.
She has a right to make money through promotion but not making money recommending financial products that she benefits from.
Saw you on MMM. I am a big fan of MMM but I am not much of a bad ass.
I believe she has a right to make money. However, she has made her name and a lot of money dispensing sound financial advice. She loses credibility when she accepts money to give advice (buy an expensive care) that contradicts her core values. If she had done a commercial for a used car service (CarMax), I would have felt better about it.
Yeah, MMM is great and a total badass!
Yeah it’s definitely disappointing to see people sell out.. Good rant here & cannot agree more..
While I’m all for saving and or figuring out how to achieve a goal this ad really isn’t promoting that