What are Marketers Thinking, Part 1?

October 14, 2008 | Posted by: Susan Kearney

I'm a huge baseball fan. Specifically, a Yankee's fan. Last night I wanted to watch the Dodgers play the Phillies so I could root for Joe Torre. I turned the TV on early and caught the latest news about the stock market: ANOTHER 800 point drop. After a few minutes arguing with myself about whether to leave my 401K money in stocks or to pull them out and stuff my mattress with them, the game started and I settled in for several hours away from the stress of the imploding economy.

Interestingly, the first commercial I saw during the game was from E*Trade. You've probably seen it: the baby sitting in the high chair talking to the camera about how easy it is to buy and sell stocks online; about the 100's of thousands of new accounts E*Trade opens every week. Now, I've seen that commercial many times, but last night it struck me differently. How could E*Trade put this particular commercial on TV in the midst of perhaps the largest global financial crisis we've experienced; when many, many folks are thinking the same thing as me? Given the failures on both Wall Street and Main Street, is it really so easy to invest in the market that a baby can do it? What were the marketers at E*Trade thinking? Did they stop over the past few weeks to consider how this ad would strike consumers? If they'd already purchased the air time, couldn't they fill it with a message of a different tone or substance? Was this a good use of marketing dollars?

The only thing that made sense to me about that commercial was the part at the end when the baby leans over the side of his high chair and loses his dinner. After living through the last month, I feel like doing the same.

What do you think? I look forward to your comments.