I’m always somewhere between amused and confused with ads that seem to teach people how to spend money. Does anyone really need help with that? Spend the savings seems to be the new trend in a lot of ads:

An air conditioning company ad promotes a 17 month no payment plan. That’s kind of cool, but the second half of the ad tells the guy he can now buy his bouncy castle with that saving. What saving? It’s deferred payments for 17 months – the air conditioning system he’s buying isn’t free all of a sudden! Pay for the bouncy castle now, then pay for the air conditioning system after. That’s MORE spending, not less. It’s over-spending, and not saving.

A national television campaign for car manufacturer asks what would you do if you didn’t have car payments this summer. Would you spend it on a vacation? What? They’re delaying your seven or eight years of payments to not start until fall AND want you to spend the money you’re really not saving on a vacation. And newsflash: The ad states no payments. It does not state no interest, so the interest is still accumulating while you’re not making payments.

Scotiabank has been running the same type of ad campaign for a few years, too. The theme is generally that a couple goes into the branch to see how to save $1,500 a year. Then, the second half of the ad, has them spending it immediately. The ads are cute, but come on. You need a commission-based loans officer to show you how to save $125 a month? If so, you’ve got way bigger problems. I bet I can show you how to save $1,000 a month if you have vehicle payments. But, that aside, the savings, according to their ads, should then be spent immediately? How exactly does that help anyone?