Well, it seems like Visa is at it again! Now, instead of annoying you with warm and fuzzy tales of how you need a Visa card to shop at some obscure candy store in Maine, they're acting all "elitist" in their new advertisements for the Visa Check Card. In the new ads, customers whisk through some sort of food/smoothie shop, being served in a quick, efficient fashion. The customers recieve their food/drinks very quickly, move down the line, pay, and leave--all to the sound of a familiar golden-age cartoon era tune that stresses efficiency. The point? Everything is moving like a well-oiled machine here at this lucky establishement! And why? Because very single person is paying with their Visa Check Card! Yippee!
Yep, you heard it. Apparently, in this alternate credit bizarro world, every single human uses the Visa Check Card, and we're all better off as a society. But, here's the zinger of the commercial: One poor, lost soul has the nerve to pay with *gasp* CASH! You can only imagine the hysteria that follows! The machinery breaks down, food is splattered everywhere, the line of customers comes to a halt, inventory is destroyed, the basic equilibrium of the universe is shattered, and everyone in the shop dies a little inside. To emphasize this bastard's ineptitude as a consumer, the rest of the customers stare at him disdainfully, thinking to themselves, "what a fool. Why hasn't he joined us. We are the new world order." The cashier reluctantly takes his cash, and delivers his change, all the while grimacing with a look that's half "I'm constipated" and half "I will kill your firstborn when I get off work later."
Neato! Good job, Visa--you've done it again! It's one thing to stress the convenience of the check card, but to go so far over the top as to make paying with cash look like you've stumbled into your local McDonalds with a bunch of pre-victorian dubloons is just plain stupid. Will there be a day when cash is phased out? Maybe. Is it today? No. Is it 5 years from now? No.
But, let's ignore all the nauseating self righteousness that oozes from this painful vision of our retail future for a second and concentrate on the more important issues here:
First of all, no retailer in their right mind "dislikes" getting cash. It's just common sense. They don't have to wait for approval, checks, reimbursement, etc. Mom and pop stores (like the one in the ad) especially like getting cash. And yes, I know, "the Visa Check Card" is as good as cash. But it's not really cash now, is it?
Secondly, and more interestingly, the commercial is a bit of a backhanded indictment of retail operations in general when you think about it: The advertisement is almost stating that this store's efficiency and customer service is SOLELY BASED on the customers' ability to pay with the Visa Check Card. It almost has nothing to do with good cooks, fair prices, great service and convencience. No. The store is a "food and drink utpoia" because each robot in there pays with a Check Card. Doesn't really say much for your average business owners' efforts out there, does it?
Oh well. Chalk it up to Visa trying to trump their own stupidity. We can only hope this commercial fades into oblivion like that previously mentioned excersize in stupidity from several years ago. Now, if we can only find out what dope chose the winner for the new MasterCard "Priceless" ad.
