FTC Parodies FreeCreditReport.Com Ads (VIDEO)

The Federal Trade Commission is hoping to go viral.

On Tuesday the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection uploaded some funny videos to YouTube -- parodies of the absurdly popular ads for FreeCreditReport.com. The agency has twice spanked ad-makers for deceiving consumers, because the service provided at FreeCreditReport.com isn't really free at all.

A spokeswoman working for the FTC says the ads cost $100,000 to produce, but the government's not spending any money to put the spots on television. One of the ads features an admirably credit-conscious young man in an apartment, the other shows the guy at his job in an Irish restaurant.

Watch:

A key difference seems to be that the man in the FreeCreditReport.com ads is forced to wear funny garb because a credit problem caught him off guard and affected his employment prospects, whereas the fellow in the FTC's ad seems to be wearing funny garb just for fun.

Since the spirit of comedy is in the air, I wonder if anyone's had an actual experience with FreeCreditReport.com that is as funny as any of these ads. Share your stories -- email me: [e-mail]. The funniest stuff will be featured in a future post.

Comments

[Sean Monahan]

It's hilarious that the ads served to this blog post are from companies offering "free" credit reports...

sincerely,
the lead singer from the FTC videos

[000Jade000]

LOL! Way to go, FTC!

[goodog]

This story would make a whole lot more sense if the writer made the clear distinction between FreeCredit­Report.com and AnnualCred­itReport.c­om.

AnnualCred­itReport.c­om, an FTC website, is being scammed by FreeCredit­Report.com in the first place.

This reporting of the FTC's witty response kind of misses the whole point of the FTC parody of FreeCreadi­tReport.co­m, because it doesn't explain that FreeCredit­Report.com is, itself, a disingenuous play of AnnualCred­itReport.c­om's name.

[jacaldwell]

It doesn't explain that " FreeCredit­Report.com is, itself, a disingenuous play of AnnualCred­itReport.c­om's name" because it's not....

FreeCredit­Report.com was the first of its kind and is the 800lb gorilla in online credit reports. FCR fully discloses that a free report comes with enrollment in a credit monitoring service, and actually links to AnnualCred­itReport.c­om from it's Web site.

By law people could always request a copy of their credit report from any or all of the reporting agencies, it just wasn't available online. Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion were basically "forced" by the government to create, finance, and populate AnnualCred­itReport.c­om to change that.

With ACR you get one report from each agency per year. If you need more than 1 per year, you can get reports from any or all of the agencies at any or all of the agency sites for a fee. Before FCR if you wanted a copy of your report you'd be paying an offline agency at least 3x what you pay for a report online.

So, FCR created a business model that removed the middleman and saved you 66% for the cost of a report, and due to their success partially funds and supports a government site were you can get your credit information for free annually.

But hey, isn't parody a form of flattery? FCR must be doing something right for the FTC to parody them....

[habajebe]

FreeCreditReport has cooler guitars. Strats, Teles and P Basses usually. I like the Alvarez acoustic, hard to make out the bass in the AnnualCreditReport ad. My credit's all to hell anyway. Guess that's obvious, as I am checking out the guitars.

[Heather Jamieson]

O to the M to the G !!!!
to the R to the O to the T to the FLMAO !!!!!!

[RedStateCenterLeft]

Cool idea. Actually, I've used FCR.com, dumping the long contract for a shorter one. It really does work. I had a long-standing collection from an out of state hospital that screwed up on my address in sending the bill. It was caught about three months after I got a free report from the government and I was able to correct it. It was for only $75.00 but getting rid of the collection jumped my score 40 points. I'll be refinancing my house at a lower rate soon. Proof this stuff does work.

[Sweetie4Obama]

I logged on to FreeCredit­Report.com a couple of years ago, but when I saw all of the fees, I exited stage left. If I remember correctly, they will provide you with your credit report if you subscribe to their credit monitoring service for so much money per month. That ain't free!!

[blkbtrfly1]

Yep and the funny thing about is, you have to pay by credit card. I did it, but remember thinking that if I were having credit troubles, I wouldn't be able to get the report.

[commentator101]

This would never have aired under Bush. The folks at the FTC would have known they would have gotten a call after its first airing. Careers would end.

Kudos to the FTC for doing it. They would need to buy mega-saturation coverage to make a dent in the Experian ads recollection though.

An even better approach would be for the right person to visit Experian and tell them they are going to make their life a holy regulatory hell unless they stop scamming people.

[jeniferdaniels]

this whomps...jazz it up a bit

[up420oz]

This is a great start! Now about all the other deceptive advertizing on TV, when do they take them on?

[CIgarCityGirl]

The government gets "hip" and want to HELP its citizenry? Omigosh, have we finally returned from our eight year trip to planet bizarro?

[huffyISaHottie]

who knew the government had a sense of humor?....­.BTW...tha­t last freecredit­report.com commercial sucks big time

[habajebe]

The one at the Renaissance Fair? They were scraping the bottom for that rhyme. Totally sucks. Nice guitars though.