Friday, July 9, 2010
Bag This, State Farm
This is one of those commercials which just doesn't seem complete without one of the characters just kicking the crap out of several of the others.
Here's a reasonable-looking guy with his head firmly planted on his shoulders, trying to save a little cash by brown-bagging it. Times are tough, and eating out can get seriously expensive, and every dollar counts, right? Well, check out the response he gets from his friends- derisive laughter that I wouldn't tolerate for two damn seconds before getting up and walking the hell out.
And check out the smarmy little prick sitting in the booth- "what some people won't do to try to save money!" Yeah, what a freaking nut, bring lunch from home! What's next- bringing coffee in a travel cup instead of hitting Starbucks? Where will the insanity end?
Thankfully, Mr. State Farm is available to give us REAL clues on how to save money, so you don't show poorly for your "friends" by demonstrating what I thought was just common-sense frugality. I'm sure that after a few minutes on the phone with an insurance agent, you'll be back to blowing $30- $40 a week with the guys at the lunch counter.
"When you are on date, do you bring two of those?" No, asshole, when I'm on a date, I take her to a nice restaurant. Because I can afford to do that, saving so much money by not eating out every day. It's called budgeting, and it's not dumb, or worthy of derision. It's smart, which is a lot more than I can say for the people I thought were my friends.
Seriously, why would anyone want to have lunch with these jerks? This commercial just makes me angry at State Farm, which is actively sneering at the idea of saving money unless it's done by purchasing their insurance.
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In six months, they will raise your rates and you will be eating cat food so you can pay your State Farm bill. This happened to me, and I was a nearly 2 decade SF customer. Was being the operative word....
ReplyDeleteIt says something nasty about State Farm and the ad agency that they want to make the Roman virtue of thrift out to be a form of madness; I'd say something about the Gods marking them for destruction but it's implicit, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteStatefarm is a joke now I really don't like having to deal with them everyday just like Allstate both advertise to take care of there customers but I work in the collision field and the last thing on there mind is taking care of there customer all they care about is the cheapest short cut repairs
ReplyDeleteFull disclosure: State Farm is my insurance company. I've stayed with them because they offer me the best rates, but their service is less than stellar.
ReplyDeleteSeven years ago, I was hit by an uninsured motorist and had to go to the hospital in an ambulance, followed by three months of physical therapy. I had to sue State Farm to pay for the treatments. Two years after the accident, I got a form letter from SF announcing that since they could not get any money out of the drunken bum who totaled my car, they would not be reimbursing me my $500 deductible.
Multi-billion dollar insurance company can't afford to cover a $500 deductible paid out when one of it's customers is hit by an uninsured motorist. Yes, they are really there for you.
Or you know, they could be mocking the idea that this prick had the cajones to bring in a sandwich to a restaurant. You know, a place where people work and make money off of sales. They don't get funded by seats being filled alone. Maybe he should have just stayed at the office and had his lunch there, instead of taking up space at what looks to be a pretty busy restaurant.
ReplyDeleteHis friends should be given awards for riding his ass about his "frugality." Remind me next time I want to show how I save money on gas by standing in the entry of a cab dispatch and not allowing a single person to leave so they can marvel at such unprecedented and clearly profound forward thinking.
Sal, I agree that this guy should have just spared himself the pleasure of his "friends" company by eating his lunch in the office. I don't buy that he deserves the ribbing, since he explains to his "friends" why he did it. I also don't buy that he's preventing anyone else from getting food- sitting in a restaurant eating a sandwich isn't EXACTLY like blocking the cab dispatch or chaining yourself to the theater entrance in protest- kind of hard to see how he's doing anything but making an annoyingly ostentatious show and getting ridiculed for it.
ReplyDeleteHe could get snarked on for that- although "why did you agree to come out with us then?" could be answered with "I thought you just wanted my company for lunch- I didn't know that a nice lunch with colleagues was dependent on me actually purchasing food, or that if I didn't purchase food, I'd be treated like shit."
One more point I'll make- there are a lot of things you can rag people on and get away with it. It would be nice if thriftiness would join religion and sexual preference as off-limits, especially in this day and age. I know that when I take a "pass" on a coworkers' invite to go to lunch, the conversation stops there, and if it doesn't a simple "I can't afford it" does the job. Maybe that's what this guy should have done. But at most he deserves a mild rebuke- maybe an offer to be treated for today- not relentless attacks from his "friends."