Misleading Advertisement

Star Q

i.  Cendawan Portobello Sumbat Daging

ii.  Mee Wantan Sizzling

iii.  Sliced Peach Cake

Much has been said about the above advertisement regarding a company providing financial credit to couples who plan to get married.  However most of the comments focused on the sheer ridiculousness of the idea of borrowing a huge amount of money for a wedding, only to end up in debt up to their noses for that once-in-a-lifetime experience.

On the other hand, I choose to write on a different perspective.  As we all know, it is not cheap to carry out a wedding ceremony, no matter how small the function was originally planned.  There will always be that forgotten something, like distant cousins here, long-lost relatives there, extension of sponsored accommodations for relatives and so on.  So, inevitably the cost to conduct a wedding can be mind-boggling to the future brides and grooms.

When I talk about this huge expenditure, no specific culture is exempted because whoever you are in Malaysia, when you want to get married, you really do need to have a considerable amount of money in your savings.  Having said that, I found it a bit disturbing the first time I laid my eyes on the above advertisement.  

With people from different quarters urging future brides and grooms to do away with those that are not necessary during weddings, just so that they can reduce the wedding expenditure and so that they can live a debt-free married life after that, we suddenly get this finance company urging these young couples to borrow and spend.  It hurts that this finance company is preying upon needy people like them and it hurts even more when the focus of the advertisement is on a young Malay couple.

I am sure the advertisement would have had similar intended effect that the financial company had wanted if they had used a picture of a huge hall that is being prepared for a grand wedding without focusing on the bride and groom.

Companies, especially financial companies looking for people gullible enough to borrow money from them should be more respectful of culture when coming out with advertisements.  I am sure the gullible party here is not the couple getting married but the company that is using all its dirty tactics to lure people into the dark recesses of its financial schemes.