Ad’s unlikely millionaires

ROB STOCK

MONEY MATTERS rob.stock@fairfaxmedia.co.nz

Unrealistically flash, fake lifestyles are everywhere.

It’s not a new phenomenon. Back in the 1990s, irritable and realistic reporters pointed out the real cost of living the Friends lifestyle of sitcom characters Monica, Chandler, Ross, Rachel, Joey and Phoebe.

After seeing the current Vodafone Rewards television advertisement, I feel like doing the same.

The lifestyle presented as a kind of breezy normal in the advert was anything but.

Like the cranky reporters that took Friends to task, I watched the Vodafone advert to deduce what I could about the wealth and finances of the fake family it featured.

1 second: The advert opens with a young man pretending to be ill. Nice house. It’s light. Exposed wood everywhere. The hall has designer faux-retro brass light switches. Through the window a garden can be seen. The house isn’t overshadowed by neighbours. Nice, leafy suburb. Don’t accept adverts passively Set your own aspirations Learn to spot fake lifestyles

3 seconds: Dad passes by wearing Warriors’ scarf. ‘‘Son, you’re missing out.’’ Warriors. We’re in Auckland. Grey Lynn? Epsom? Remuera? If so, that’s a million-dollar-plus home. Rentals are generally not so nice as this home is. Dad’s probably got a drive ahead of him to Mount Smart Stadium.

10 seconds: Young man passes living room in which four children, all kitted out in Stormtrooper costumes with lightsabers, are playing. ‘‘Go the Empire,’’ he shouts. Nice living room. Spacious. Good furniture. The kids head out the front door. Party, I guess. The costumes aren’t from a $2 shop. They look a lot like costumes available from CostumeWorld.co.nz that cost more than $100 each.

15 seconds: The lad’s mother and daughter head out. ‘‘It’s going to be a great gig,’’ the mum says as she passes down the exposed wood staircase. This isn’t a villa. It’s a two-storey Auckland timber house. A million dollars wouldn’t be enough to buy the place. $1.5m? $2m? It’s at least got four bedrooms, so $2.5m. There’s mum, dad, and at least three tween to teen children. The walls are covered in framed photos. Definitely not a rental. No landlord would let tenants bang in that many nails. Can’t tell whose gig the mother and daughter are going to. Probably not walking. Second car, I suppose. I suspect this isn’t a family for 14-year-old Toyotas.

35 seconds: Front door opens to young man’s two mates. They’re off to the All Blacks’ game. Definitely one of the leafy suburbs. Mature trees shading the road. All have nice All Blacks’ shirts that haven’t seen much wear. Nobody’s holding car keys. They’re walking or Ubering. Let’s say walking. Maybe they’re in Mount Eden near Eden Park. If so, $2m is probably right for the house. The All Blacks game makes four events in one evening. Do they do this every weekend? It seems normal to them. Can’t have much of a mortgage. Maybe mum’s a heart surgeon.

Not the ordinary, everyday lifestyle of the vast majority of Vodafone’s customers, then.

Adverts are about aspiration and amplification. I get that, but less than 10 per cent of households have a net worth of more than $1.5m.

The cost of living the ‘‘Friends’’ lifestyle was a television fiction. The same could be said about a Vodafone advert.