An American man and woman, apparently partners in a small business, are treating three Germans to a business lunch. A deal is struck and the American man offers to pay for lunch, pulling out his credit card, a card with a superhero of some sort on it. The Germans immediately switch from English to their own language and begin making fun of the man's card, calling it a "Kindergarten card".
"Does anyone else find this awkward?" the German woman asks and one of her team says what amounts to, "Let's get out of here." After they leave, the American woman, who apparently understands German, pulls out her more adult American Express Gold card and says, "Let me get this."
This commercial offended me the first time I saw it. It's insulting to both Americans and Germans, and here's why. First, it implies that American individuality and small business is immature, naive and unprofessional, and second, that Germans are rude, snobby and of "group mind". The small business owner probably couldn't afford to treat these people to a power lunch, but he does and for that they should be a little more understanding. Who cares what picture is on a credit card? It's the credit that matters. His card isn't up to your standards? It was when you were ordering that steak and lobster, Arschleck!
What's really under attack here is individuality. This commercial perfectly demonstrates how far down the yuppie mentality of the 80s has taken us in the past two decades. God forbid we exhibit any signs of not promoting the group mind, because, by not conforming, we say that we are free-thinkers. It has been proven throughout history that when a fascist regime is threatening to take over, the first people to be discredited (and often eliminated) are the free-thinkers. Anything that doesn't support the group mind must be done away with: writers, artists, musicians, and anyone who dares to express individuality or live according to their own truth.
Besides, all it says anyway is that people are spending money they don't have, which is one of the reasons this country is in so much trouble in the first place. Our family might be broke right now, but at least we don't have credit card bills -- we cut ours up six years ago, one of the best decisions we ever made. I can't tell you how many people have actually attacked us verbally for our stance on credit cards. People are threatened by this and I have a hard time understanding why. But this post has gone off-topic.
Wasn't there a commercial not too long ago in which Jerry Seinfeld was promoting an American Express Superman card? American Express needs to seriously rethink the unspoken message of their latest commercial and American small business owners, as well as Germans, should think about how they are being profiled. In a nut shell American Express is saying to American small business owners:
"If you don't have one of our Gold Cards, they're going to laugh at you. The big kids won't want to play with you."How insulting.
There's a new one I saw yesterday. A guy goes to buy a plane ticket and says he's going on a business trip. (Why he is telling the person behind the counter the reason for his trip is beyond me.) He hands a card with kittens on it. She looks dubious, asks him about if it's really for business. He says yes. She calls over two thugs to take him away, presumably because they think he's a terrorist. Then another person comes up with a gold card and she believes that he is really going on a business trip.
ReplyDeleteSo... the moral of this story is that terrorists should all use gold cards.
Apparently credit card companies prefer people to live a "group mind" lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteA while back either Visa or MC did a series of commercials - where everyone's in perfec cog like harmony until someone pays with cash - and that then screws up the smooth running credit card world. Usually the scene was in a cafeteria, toy store or other similar locale. Very cute commercials - but with a message like poison.
Credit is a necessary evil in this world we live in. Unfortunately. You have to have a good credit score to be able to be approved for things we need like transportation, and housing. Yet the credit card companies, (yes only a portion of the credit report), seem to actually try to bring your score down. Advertise using credit for everyday purchases like groceries or gas, and then charge you late fees even when your payment is on time. My last credit card statement for HSBC bank showed my payment for the full balance was accepted on the 12th and then a late fee was posted on it the 18th. I am still so pissed i don't want to even call them. on the 18th there wasn't even a balance!
ReplyDeleteTheir commercials are as convoluted as their own policies.
Yes, I ranted here sorry.
Yes Steph I feel your pain on your bills, we still haven't sold the other house and our monthly bills on just the house payments have been over 1800 a month... GAH!
Deni: That's twisted!
ReplyDeleteBill: Those commercials were awful. I hated them.
Fyrebaugh: They've nearly made it to where you can't even use a pay toilet without having your credit rating scrutinized. Hope your house sells quickly!
ive seen that one too.... its actually an old commercial. I saw it once about a year ago, and it left an impression on me so i remembered it, but i have never seen it since..
ReplyDeleteIsn't it interesting that it is still politically correct to insult German speaking people?
ReplyDeleteI am not afraid of and use credit cards, as a convenience, and as a safe form of payment when travelling abroad. The balance gets paid as soon as the bill arrives, of course.
Merisi: That's great. That's exactly how they should be used. However, here in the states things have gotten so out of hand that many people are forced to live on their credit cards, using them to pay their utility bills and to buy groceries. The predatory credit card companies have helped to create a situation where people are set up to fail.
ReplyDeleteDo you know that now, when someone applies for a job the employer has the right to check the applicant's credit rating? Too much power, too much greed, too much debt. It has crippled this country and we're now seeing the ugly results.
Nettl and I use debit cards, which act exactly like credit cards, except that we cannot spend money we don't have. It makes life more difficult sometimes, but at least when Christmas is over, for example, we don't start getting inundated with the bills.
And yes, American Express seems to think it's alright to insult German-speaking people. I wonder what people would say if they'd used people who spoke Arabic or Hebrew? It's disgraceful.
I don't think it was really against Germans or other German-speaking people. I think it was just a recognizable foreign accent. I could see it just as easily with French or Japanese potential business partners, although the use of the word "kindergarten" helps because that's a word that English has adopted. I could be wrong, though.
ReplyDeleteIt's really easy to get caught up in credit, once you get behind. We were in a pretty bad situation several years ago -- in debt to the point that it looked like we would never get out, so it didn't really matter if we added more. Bad way of thinking, I know. We were fortunate to get a large sum of money at once and wipe out all of our debt by writing just one check. Since then, we have been able to just use the debit cards.
Bill, I agree with you about those Visa commercials. Those things were packed full of the most evil, poisonous messages that I've ever seen! You notice, however, that Visa has pulled them. Perhaps we're not the only ones...
ReplyDeleteI googled blogs for this commercial because I wanted to see if anyone else had written about it since I, too, find it completely infuriating!
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of person makes fun of someone for the type of credit card they use? It's completely irrelevant, and AmEx should have found a better way to make the case that small businesses should apply for this card.
Miles? Benefits? Wide acceptance? Sure! But "apply for the card or risk being made fun of"? Ridiculous!
And, as you pointed out, the commercial is full of stereotypes, depicting Germans as incredibly rude as they switch to another language in front of their non-German-speaking hosts.
Finally, why does the American woman feel the need to pay with her card? Is she, too, embarrassed that the waitstaff might think of her and her companion in a negative way for paying with a non-AmEx card? What is she so afraid of?!
AmEx should pull this commercial. It's offensive, distasteful, and ineffective.
Have you noticed this is the second version of the commercial? The first one I saw only had the German guy saying "Das ist eine Kindergarten card" and not the "do you find this awkward" bit.
My guess is that AmEx got some feedback that the ad was difficult to understand -- after all, how realistic is an exchange like that, being made fun of for a piece of plastic? Maybe the dude got a better APR than what AmEx offers. Who knows? Who cares?!
I haven't seen the commercial in a couple of weeks; I'm wondering if they pulled it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and for your great comment!
I haven't seen the commercial in a couple of weeks; I'm wondering if they pulled it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and for your great comment!
Merisi: That's great. That's exactly how they should be used. However, here in the states things have gotten so out of hand that many people are forced to live on their credit cards, using them to pay their utility bills and to buy groceries. The predatory credit card companies have helped to create a situation where people are set up to fail.
ReplyDeleteDo you know that now, when someone applies for a job the employer has the right to check the applicant's credit rating? Too much power, too much greed, too much debt. It has crippled this country and we're now seeing the ugly results.
Nettl and I use debit cards, which act exactly like credit cards, except that we cannot spend money we don't have. It makes life more difficult sometimes, but at least when Christmas is over, for example, we don't start getting inundated with the bills.
And yes, American Express seems to think it's alright to insult German-speaking people. I wonder what people would say if they'd used people who spoke Arabic or Hebrew? It's disgraceful.