Sign$ of the Times
There are plenty of signs that the economy is straining. Some of them are literal, as seen in the "For Rent" signs popping up in neighborhoods where there were only rarely seen before, or "For Sale" signs in the windows of new cars parked on the street.
You can also infer problems from the local broadcasters who play a plethora of promotions and public service announcements where once they ran paid commercials. Less obvious are the commercials called P.I.s, which stands for per-inquiry. These are spots that the advertiser doesn’t pay for unless and until viewers or listeners respond to them by calling in.
This is great for the advertisers who don’t have to buy the time. For the stations it’s better than nothing.
There are some P.I.s for quality products but most tend to be for lower rung items, or neo-scams. Some of them sound like the emails from Nigeria promising you a zillion bucks if you put up just $20,000 in handling costs.
One spot that is running locally pitches people with no credit or bad credit, telling them they can buy a brand new computer and restore their credit at the same time if only they have a checking or savings account and can afford – can you believe? – only $29.95 a week for a year. Cough, cough, that’s $1,500 for a computer that probably costs less than $400.
Another spot tells people with credit problems that if they call this toll-free number they’ll learn a secret the credit card companies don’t want them to know. How they can reduce their bills by up to 50% and more. "Up to 50% and more"? Why not just more than 50%? The language is a clue that they’re talking to sheep.
These two spots are airing on a station that plays classical music. Hardly the kind of commercials you’d expect to targeting such an upscale audience. Alas, signs of the times, and a warning that too good to be true usually ain’t good at all.
©2010 SetonnoteS
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