It’s official.
The 21st Century Radio Advertising Innovation In Idiocy is the “commercial in which the announcer explains to us things we already understand, using inane examples that have no relation to reality.”
As a preface to the copywriting critique I’m about to offer, let’s acknowledge that the entire premise is B.S.
“Paying your phone bill, electric bill and cable bill online with your MasterCard prepaid card” will save you six hours per month? Really?
Apparently MasterCard believes each time a typical consumer receives one of those bills, the consumer walks for an hour to the nearest village to make a cash payment to the telephone company, electric company, or cable company and then turns around to shuffle home for the one-hour return trek.
I’d be surprised if the real-world savings is more than six minutes, not six hours.
But let’s pretend this ground-breaking innovation (paying your bills online with a credit card!) could save you a few hours each month.
Is your response, “But golly, what could I possibly do with a few extra hours each month?”
If I asked you, “Hey, could you use a few extra hours each month?” which would be your reply:
1) “Hmm. I dunno. I’m already having trouble keeping busy with my present schedule. I’m afraid I’d be bored.”
or
2) “Yes.”
Do you really need a goofy illustration of how you could use those extra hours (or, more accurately, minutes)?
And are there any people on this planet who believe the time they’d save paying 3 monthly bills online with a credit card would give them the precious gift of “getting to be a kid with your kids”?
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I think this was the writer’s attempt to hit an emotional chord with the listener….precious time with your children being the ‘benefit’….however it failed to achieve that miserably! My first reaction was how is paying online with your prepaid MasterCard any different than paying with online banking – well with the exception of not paying, what I can only imagine would be, high credit card interest rates! Two thumbs way down MasterCard! Surprising to me because they’ve had much success in the past with their ‘Priceless’ campaigns!