As we head into the final holiday of the summer, I thought I’d make
my own final entry on the foolishness I see portrayed more often than I
dare try to quantify. It started when I was working on a project while
the television was on. (You can read part 1 and 2 here)
Here’s my current perception of how I see what “financial television”
has evolved into: Bloomberg® for flavor of the day financial banter,
CNBC® for comedy, and Fox® for soft porn. I mean it’s just ludicrous
what the so-called “financial” outlets have turned into. What’s next?
Someone pounding buzzers, whistles, and gongs as they give out 401K
advice to attract viewers? Wait…scratch that.
So as I wrote earlier we went from a story about a 10-year-old girl
flying alone, then to the commercial breaks where they went from hiring a
babysitter via the web to the final one that in my mind took the cake – literally!
Ladies and gentlemen let me introduce you to the wonder additive with
claims so powerful it would make P.T. Barnum blush: SENSA® Weight loss
system.
Just shake this magic powder on that ice cream sundae and bammo! Forget
the treadmill, you’re in the 21st century now. You don’t diet to be
lean and mean. You now get to eat all that fat and cream. “Just shake, shake, shake!”
The commercial is all about showing (or claiming) the benefits of
this product by parading what looks like college age girls in bikinis
dancing on the beach as they eat corn dogs, ice cream cones, and more.
Although I’m all for girls in bikinis, who on this Earth thinks this is
how they’ll drop that VW® bus from their waistline so they can sign up
for the next beach volleyball tournament sporting a new suit?
Remember not that long ago when they were touting new potato chips
and others that were cooked with a “special additive” that allowed you
not to worry about the grease? That product had a funny little side
effect that wasn’t touted with such fanfare as the benefit of being able
to eat greasy foods without caring about adding pounds to your
waistline. It just added stains to – well let’s just say you wouldn’t
want to be on the beach jumping around sporting a new white bikini like
they do in the SENSA commercial.
I can’t help but ask myself just how many people are watching this
and will actually make the call and order it. They’ll justify it within
their head it must be safe because the government must have done tests
and more. They’ll say to themselves; “Well obviously this must be a
reputable company or product. Just look at the quality of the
commercial. Doesn’t look like it’s shot by some fly by nights. So they
must have some history that people are getting results or they’d be shut
down.”
I don’t want to imply that this company isn’t legitimate or legal. I
just want to bring to light what we’ve seen on similar venues when it
comes to products that just make you shake your head and say: “Who is buying this?”
Case in point: Remember Smiling Bob? He was the star in those slick
commercials that were seen on near every financial channel and more day
after day, after day, for months. The product was Enzyte®. the male
enhancement miracle pill.
The believers in this crowd run in tandem with the “I can eat anything and still lose weight”
believers in my opinion. Problem was they found out later the Enzyte
pitch was just a scam to get you on a recurring billing cycle. A scam
which resulted in the founder being sent to prison for 25 years. But
they sold millions, and millions, and millions, of dollars worth of
product before they were finally exposed. Literally one could say, but
without the smile I’d wager.
There are just parts of life you can’t escape the grind of. Raising
kids, staying fit, living healthy, growing your business, taking care of
your money. All of these things are parts of life we truly can’t just
pass off to someone else or take some miracle pill for.
There are at times no easy answers or pleasant ways to do all things.
And the more we look to jettison what we really should be doing for
ourselves or flail away in some vapid attempt to have our cake and eat
it to. The more we’ll find ourselves wasting precious time and resources
on foolish things we should have never taken a second look at.
Raising kids is tough but worth the price of trying to do it
correctly. Diet and exercise is hard, but so is not having that extra
slice of pizza. If you want the extra slice you’ll need to do a little
extra exercise. And if you want to handle and grow your money for life
and retirement, you’re going to have to learn about money and markets
through due diligence. Not because someone yelled “Buy, Buy, Buy!” It’s all common sense.
So as we go into this holiday weekend just let me say it’s people
like yourselves that are more uncommon than you might think. Because
when it’s all said and done, you are the ones that take responsibility
for your own futures, finances, and families.
Enjoy your holiday. You
deserve it!
© 2012 Mark St.Cyr www.MarkStCyr.com
