Tim Tebow ad - what's all the fuss about?

Ok, I admit I was disappointed. I was expecting more. After all, I was told it was divisive. Instead, all I saw was a mother who worries about her son "Timmy". She called him her "miracle baby" and explained "he almost didn't get into this world." She says she can remember so many times when "she almost lost him" and says "it was so hard."

Then she goes on and says "well, he's all grown up now and I still worry about his health." My initial thought was that this was an ad for Flintstones Chewable Vitamins. Then she says that "with all our family's been through, you have to be tough" and she gets tackled by Tebow. Both pop back up. In the end-of-commercial music, she tells little Timmy that he's "not nearly as tough as I am."

So where's the divisiveness? Where's the anti-choice message? Where does Tebow offend people?

Looking for offensive divisive material, I looked at the website mentioned in the ad http://www.focusonthefamily.com. Once there, I clicked on the "Watch now" button to watch the story. Tim's mom and dad do a sit-down interview where they tell the story. Mrs. Tebow explains her point of view and her choices. You may disagree with them, but they are her choices and her beliefs. You may think (as one other video I watched explained) that a belief like her's is like a belief in Tinkerbell. But she doesn't force or even suggest that anyone else should follow her beliefs.

I know that I have seen the birth of three precious children. There were times during those pregnancies where I wondered if we would see that child, if we would make it through the current illness or the depression or the personal struggles we were going through. We never faced major struggles, but we knew some who did. I felt like I could empathize with Pam Tebow.

Towards the end of the video, the narrator asks the Tebows what they would tell someone facing an unwanted pregnancy. Mrs. Tebow tells them that they have options and choices and mentions pregnancy crisis center.

So here's my suggestion. If you're interested in the Tebow story, go view it online. I will warn you that you will hear a lot about how God influenced their lives. If that scares you or bothers you, don't watch the video.

I also have a special request to Christians that read this. Watch the video. Learn the style and techniques the Tebows use. It's not offensive and will reach many more people. And pray. Pray for the Tebows. They've already been under attack and I'm afraid it will grow worse. There are those out there that would love to jeer at Tim Tebow if he were to fall. He has an important job to do and he can't afford to be distracted.

Unfair advertising - Update

Back in April, I posted this entry about a local car dealer who was running unfair ads. The ads resulted in multiple law suits (reportedly 14) and customers who could not afford the cars. They purchased a car with very low payments, that soon escalated. In one report, the payments started at $47/month, then escalated to over $700. Over 50 complaints were filed with the BBB.

Well, the lawsuits have taken their toll on the dealer. The dealership filed for bankruptcy a few weeks ago. He owes hundreds of creditors and dozens of employees have lost their job. (see here for details). Now, the dealership has closed down completely.

My initial reaction is that it couldn't happen to a nicer guy (sarcasm). The guy doesn't deserve to run a car dealership. Some of the creditors who lost money are the TV stations that ran the ads and the advertising agency who created the ads. These are the folks that I identified back in April that I thought should share the burden.

However, a lot of individuals lost money too. They thought they were getting a good deal, then got stiffed. Now, I'm a believer in "Buyer Beware", and I think these people shouldn't be made 100% whole, (even though I said that in April), but this deceptive deal has cost them more than it should have.

Remember, if you see a deal that's too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

Unfair advertising

A local car dealer had some ads on TV, saying you could by a car for $44 per month or even (most recently) no car payments for two years. The ads featured a lot of yelling, and even more fine print. I used my DVR to slow things down and read the fine print. Seems that after 3 months, the $44 per month went up and the two years with never a car payment wasn't really available. To me, the ads were confusing at best, deceptive at worst.

Now, at least 50 people have agreed with me. Unfortunately, they found out the hard way. They bought cars and then saw the car payment balloon from $44 to $478. When they tried to turn the car in (as promised by the loud spokesperson), the dealer suggested they refinance - no bank will refinance when you owe more than the car is worth.

So now, the SC Dept of Consumer Affairs is in the game, writing an official letter to the car dealer and giving them 10 days to resolve the problems. The car dealer says the problem is with the disclosures and that both he and his ad agency believe the ads and disclosures are proper. I don't think he's trying to spread the blame to his ad agency yet, but time will tell.

To me, there are several things wrong here. First, any consumer who believes you can buy a car for $44 or no payment, should not be allowed to buy a car. Probably not allowed to even drive. It's just not safe having an idiot like that on the roads.

This doesn't excuse the dealer. I could probably sue them because I had to watch those loud, obnoxius ads. My blood pressure went up each time they aired and I'm sure it shortened my life expectancy. The ads were misleading and the dealer should have to buy back each car that was sold in the last year. The purchase price should be every dime the consumer paid (including interest).

However, the buck shouldn't stop there. The ad agency that created these ads is also guilty. As a professional group, they should understand and avoid deception. (This doesn't remove guilt from the agency). I'd like to see a list of other companies for whom they developed ads and I'll avoid those companies too. If you're choosing an ad agency, you should choose a reputable one. Their penalty should be equal to whatever they were paid for these car dealer ads.

And finally, the TV stations that showed the ads should share in the blame. They should have known that these ads were just flat wrong and should never have aired them. They should give up the revenue they earned for the ads and be forced to run apologies. Maybe they should even be forced to run shows with no ads (Star Trek or Andy Griffith would be a good idea)

See the story here.

Freedomswatch part 2

I got an email tonight that said that NBC has agreed to accept the Freedomswatch ads. (Last Friday I posted a note about the NBC refusal. See my previous post here.)

NBC said "We have reviewed and changed our ad standards guidelines and made the decision that our policy will apply to content only and not to a referenced Web site. Based on these amended standards the Freedom's Watch ad will begin to run as early as Sunday."

See the full article here.

I don't often do petitions, and now I'm wondering about the sanity of signing a petition asking for ads....

http://www.freedomswatch.org/ - TV ads

NBC refuses to run some ads produced by Freedom's Watch. The reason they give is that the organization depicts it's web address at the end and the web site has some potentially sensitive issues.

Let's be clear. The ads that were requested are NOT politically oriented. They simply say "thank you" to the soldiers. Some also wish the soldiers a merry Christmas. At the end is a link to the freedomswathch.org website. You can view the ads here. If you disagree, please let me know and explain why. If you agree, sign the petition.

The website does show other TV ads which may cause some people to disagree (these are NOT part of the current dispute). Basically, it's an anti MoveOn.org commercial. These ads clearly voice the opinion that the War in Iraq is related to the War on Terror which is related to 9/11. Now some will disagree with that. I will not voice my opinion in this post, because I think it's not relevant.

What is relevant is that NBC, MSNBC and CNBC are refusing to air ads that thank our soldiers. The ads are being shown by CNN and FoxNews.

(F0r the record, being a market-driven philosophy based individual, I believe NBC has the right to refuse any ad. But having the right, doesn't make it right)