Acting for a Cause
When I was 20 years old I got a credit card. I wound up pretty quickly in a bit of a hole and after I paid it off about 2 years later I never had another credit card. I just didn’t want to deal with it. I’ve been paying cash for just about everything since then. (I’ve got to admit it does feel pretty good to be debt free) But renting our apartment was tough because I have no credit history, and we’ll be buying a house soon. So I’ve got to get one to build my credit. The idea isn’t very appealing to me. Just now I saw a commercial on TV for American Express. It’s got a bunch of celebrities (Ellen DeGenerous, Alicia Keys) talking about how they can make a difference because they have money and then some guy walks in and starts talking about a local lake that is his priority to keep clean. This is a commercial for their member’s project.
The commercial goes on to say that AMEX card holders get to submit ideas and they will choose a cause based on one of the submissions. That charity or cause will receive up to $5,000,000! But…you have to be a card member. Can you guess what credit card I’m going to be applying for?
What did they touch in me that all the commercials with Vikings, frequent flier miles, and bonus points hasn’t?
- A chance to make a difference in a way that is not in my power if left to my own devices. I make good money but I don’t have 5 mil lying around to give to anyone. Probably won’t any time soon either.
- Identifying with a celebrity. Any way you look at it, it’s cool to do something that they do. Isn’t that what a tremendous amount of advertising is based on in the first place?
- Giving and being green is really in right now. It’s horrible to say, but I don’t think if this commercial was on about 5 years ago that anyone would have cared. Now is a time in our society when it’s great to give and be cognizant of others. I like it.
- When you boil it down, a lot of these credit cards with reward systems aren’t really giving you anything. We’ve got over 450,000 Visa points for our business cc. I want to get a new digital camera. I figured I would log onto their shop and grab one, but you know what? I can’t. There isn’t anything there that is a voucher to a store, or a product that I really want. I guess I will have free Starbucks for the rest of the year. Or the rest of my life with all of the points we’ve got. I’d rather have Karma points than Rewards points.
I recently read that Ahman Green wanted to keep his jersey number when he moved to the Texans. Standard practice in these matters is for the person who currently has the number to name their price. Normally it’s a car, a Rolex or something similar. When Jason Simmons was asked what he wanted for it, he said for Ahman Green to make a down-payment on a home for a single parent. Can you imagine how much of a difference that little selfless act made for that family? It’s not like Jason Simmons was counting on that money or even figuring it into his yearly income, it was just something extra that he would have gotten and instead he gave it away to someone who really needed it. That’s how I am thinking about this Amex. I would be spending the money anyway. I certainly don’t need to be rewarded for spending money. (That’s behavior I don’t want to encourage. :))
What little things can we all do in our everyday lives to “pay it forward”?
June 18th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
I could tell you loved this commerical - great post. Glad to see that you’re going to get some plastic