We’re celebrating April Fool’s Day a week early with a little bit of consumer humor.
Remember those old Federal Express commercials with actor John Moschitta rapid-talking his spiel?
Well, almost two decades later, he is not alone any longer. This time, however, even faster speed-talking is used to make important disclosures and disclaimers in a radio commercial for a Boston-based financial advisory service.
*MOUSE PRINT:
That was perfectly understandable, right?
We asked the company, Hackmann Wealth Partners, if those disclosures were required by certain regulations and whether they would make future ads more understandable. They did not respond.
Presumably the disclosures said something like what is stated in a footnote on their website:
Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Wealth Advisors, LLC (BWA), a registered investment advisor. BWA and HWP Inc, DBA Hackmann Wealth Partners, are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BWA but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.
Radio listeners deserve to be able to hear and understand what these folks glossed over in their commercial.
I’ve heard radio commercials for many products that have a involved commentary at the end to ‘enlighten’ the consumer.
This is similar to the automobile commercials where they give you four or five lines of tiny print and about two seconds read it.
Drug commercials have a lot of thye same information. I’m afraid that many consumers get more information about a drugs side effects from the commercial than they do from the doctor.
This happens even today, TV and radio.
The is the vocal version of the mouse print at the bottom of TV screens. FCC should require all disclosures to be readable and understandable.
Oral “Fine print”:
I’m reminded of the prescription drug advertising we see a lot of on TV. They show, for example, a lovely scene like a family on a picnic in the park, while a very serene voiceover tells us of this wonderful drug that will add years to our lives. Then while the scene continues, the same serene voiceover tells us that your lungs could collapse taking the drug, you could go blind, and you could develop a brain tumor.
Every time I hear that absurd fast talk at the end of a commercial, I find myself grumbling “STFU” at the radio.
Some months ago I wrote to this publication concerning the third digit in Walmart prices to the right of the decimal point. They were hiding a 4 in the 1000ths spot. This rounds down on one purchase, but not on more. So, they gain a penny when more is bought, and more with purchases of multiple pounds. Consumers of 20 purchasers of 10 pounds might not notice a 1 cent difference, but if Walmart sells hundreds of pound of the meat daily this adds up. I wrote bout this to you but you did not publish it as I guess you had more important things to publish. Is the lawsuit a class action? Thank you, Karena Andrusyshyn
Karena… No, in my view there is no viable case here that any lawyer would take.