A hat tip to Curbed National for alerting us to this bizarre video from Rent.com.
According to a recent New York Times / CBS poll, nearly 9 in 10 Americans still view homeownership as an important part of realizing the American dream.
Only in an Orwellian world can anyone believe that calling 90% of your potential audience dummies advances your cause. But hey, it worked for Steve Jobs. Or did it?
I don’t think they’re “calling homebuyers dummies” at all.
What they’re saying in their message is what intelligent, free-thinking people already know.
And I always get a kick out of people who seem to derive a sense of self-worth by trying to look down on people who invest their assets by other means instead of in the buying the building in which they live; (although because I choose my friends and associates carefully, I don’t run into these kind of brain-dead people all that often, but I know they’re out there)
From the homepage of their website (and very well said!):
“The time has come to stop accepting, without question, that home ownership should be everyone’s dream. The fact of the matter is that it is not – just ask the folks who wrote essays and made videos telling us about their New American Dream. Their stories make it clear: You don’t have to own your home to own your dreams.
Now, don’t get us wrong. We think owning a home is great for some people. But if it is not right for you, we urge you to be unapologetic about it. Take back the dream and make it yours!”
Not calling them dummies? How about “brainwashed plastic mannequins?”
Agreed. I think the issue here is that we’re essentially looking at it from a large, urban perspective, in which the overwhelming majority of urban residents DO rent and see homeownership is as something you strive to attain.
Rent.com is a national advertising agency by which most of their advertisers are in smaller cities and suburban-minded “rental communities.” To drive the point home: I doubt ANYONE in Chicago looking to rent is using Rent.com — they’re probably using Craig’s List, domu, or some other more locally appointed service rather than a national register in which you can look at Chicago, and also look at Urbandale, Iowa.
Craig’s List, Yelp, and other web tools are not as prolific in smaller urban and suburban markets as they are in places like Chicago, LA, and NYC. Print media still exists by and large in these other areas, even. Rent.com is a national market for those not savvy and for areas in which there is no demand for something more specific and prolific.
And in many of these areas, home ownership is definitely seen as something one MUST do. Very, very few people know “renters,” much less someone who takes a bus somewhere, or the rail. It’s targeted to those persons, saying it’s “ok to rent!” not trying to stigmatize homeownership.
This ad isn’t directed toward a large, urban market lke Chicago, or NYC, or SF. It’s aimed at de-stigmatizing “being a renter” amongst the overwhelming majority of communities that command homeownership as some sort of standard for social legitimacy.