I don’t watch much TV. I happened to have CNBC on just now to check the commodities and stock tickers, and found myself watching an ad for SunSetter Retractable Awnings. (You know, the one carefully targeted to retiring baby-boomers’ images of themselves, with the cute-hot middle-age-ish wife and the just-a-bit-too-hunky-for-her-husband. Of course a hot couple like that’s gonna need a retractable awning to shade all their swingers’ parties, don’tcha know.)
Anyway, so they get into the pitch and the guy’s mouth very clearly says the words “as little as three hundred ninety-nine dollars” but what the voice-over says is “FOUR hundred ninety-nine dollars.”
Apparently this edit may have been done as far back as two years ago. Still, for some reason the spooky, intentional unobtrusiveness of the price-jump made me feel like Roddy Piper in They Live for just a moment. Are there lots more commercials that have been modified this way?
Don’t forget that They Live still has the best fight scene in a movie, for my money.
UPDATE: Of course, what should CNBC be showing but “America’s Tax Cheats,” with footage of SWAT teams with armored vehicles (!!) busting down tax cheaters, in partnership with the IRS. Niiice timing. I knew CNBC was propaganda central, but Jesus!
I think I’ll go drink some whisk(e)y now. Lots. Before the price goes up and I can’t afford the Federal liquor tax.
DOUBLE-PLUS-UNGOOD-UPDATE: Okay, this is just too weird. Now I’m noticing this crap everywhere I look. We got a letter in late March from the Wynn/Encore Las Vegas resort advertising a “getaway package, three nights in a deluxe resort king room if booked 60 days in advance.” Usually I toss these things, but I was sorting through old paperwork and found the identical solicitation letter from 2009.
2009: Three nights (plus two tickets to La Reve) for $249.
2011: Three nights (plus two tickets to La Reve) for $349.
Let’s see, a $100 increase in two years, that would be a 40% inflation rate for that deal over the two years. Only 20% annual inflation on that deal per year, folks!
Not only the fight scene but the whole damn movie is more pertinent now then when it was made in 1988. It wa supposed to be a slam on Reagan and his supporters, but it sure works better now.
The Sunsetter prices are all over the map. I bought one ten years ago for $500, which was worth maybe $700 of today’s dollars. I’m on their email list, and they’ve sent me prices of new product as low as $300. MSRP and street are two different critters with this outfit, plus they have competitors.
If you want signs of inflation, look no farther than gold prices.
BTW, all businesses know better than to show their price hikes, both for the obvious merchandising reasons and the hidden political agenda: it pays to do nice with the .gov and not be the nail that sticks up. The Obama Administration can be counted on to use ALL their power to hide inflationary numbers from us, but they’re there, on the financial channels, every day. Hell, the stock indexes themselves are inflated, bear ZERO resemblance to the actual value of the companies on those lists, which can be bought for a fraction of their declared worth.
“I’m here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, but I can’t afford any gum.”
I’m sure you won’t hear a peep from the civil liberties folks on the left bitching about IRS-backed SWAT teams scaring homeowners. Will they shoot dogs too, this time saying “looks lkike you lost another dependant”.