I am here today to hate on an (unembeddable) Fidelity Investments commercial.
And it is a commercial, though it also runs on the PBS NewsHour as an underwriting spot. Long form (:30) or short (:03), there it is on the NewsHour, night after night.
In this commercial we see a chic older couple moving their money around — not once, not twice, but three times.
First they decide to put money aside for impending grandchildren. Which means that they don’t trust their daughter to use the money they’ve already set aside for her to benefit her children? Or that they’re leaving their daughter nothing? Or that they have so much money that they can dish out still more of it to future generations? Whatever: “Change in plans!” The wife gets to say it first. And it becomes a refrain.
After setting a chunk of money aside, the couple decides to move to a loft. The thought arises when they see a sign as they stroll through a city: “Lofts Available Next Summer.” “Change in plans!” says the husband. His exclamation is the worst moment in the commercial. It’s his casual smugness what does it. Notice that his hair is fuller, lusher, than his wife’s, which may help to explain his smugness.
[“Change in plans!” Click for a larger, smugger view.]
And then a third more mysterious change, marked by an artist’s return to the easel: “Mom, you’re painting again? You could sell these.” Mom smiles dimwittedly. When the couple walk into the Fidelity office yet again, the rep knows what to expect: “Let me guess: change in plans?” Are they looking to open a gallery? To buy additional Joy of Painting DVDs? Is the agent being sarcastic when she says “Change in plans”? Am I joking when I allude to Bob Ross? (The answers to these questions: Probably not. Probably not. Probably not. Yes.)
Notice that every “change in plans“ in this commercial is a cheerful one. No family crises. No medical crises. And everything in the commercial worsens when you know that the background music is Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Wealth management indeed.
I had intended to post something else today, but — “Change in plans!”
[“What does it”: a Popeyeism, not a typo.]
Monday, July 19, 2021
“Change in plans!”
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comments: 10
Aaagghhhh... Vile.
And I was just recalling recently how much I liked Tears for Fears. Though I think part of the reason they used that song was the closing lyric in the commercial, "Welcome to your life."
Thank you. I hate that commercial.
DN3, yes, at the very end. Maybe world domination is the subliminal part. : )
Thank you both for calling it a commercial.
There seems to be an entire genre of these sorts of tv commercials. I haven't seen the one you've 'reviewed', but on the little more humourous side I recently saw this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyLQesDuo1I . I'm not a shill for that bank or in anyway associated with it, but I do enjoy watching anything with Jayne Eastwood, even though I'm sure this commercial will wear out its welcome after seeing it many, many times.
That’s a funny ad, and one that could never pass for underwriting. Here in the States we’re stuck with Tom Selleck. I sometimes imagine that commercial with Selleck in a house as people take out the furniture and then him.
That "change of plans" ad is ripe for satirization.
"Going out for cigarettes?
Oops! Change of plans."
Fresca, are you alluding to the Depression-era thing where a hard-up person would say “I’m going out for a pack of cigarettes” and just never come back?
Oh, ha--yeah, I forgot about that.
But, sadly, no.
I was referring to George Floyd going out for a pack of cigarettes.
Oh God — I didn’t think of that.
I'm house sitting just a few blocks away from George Floyd Square, so I think about it every day... Makes me much less receptive to inanities (mild word) like the ad.
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