In this ad for LifeLock, they continue their illustrious
tradition of trying to make everyone paranoid about identity theft, and then
they claim to offer services that protect you from such threats. (So they basically make you feel threatened, and then offer to mitigate this threat.) And all while LifeLock has been
sued for deceptive practices by the government, as well as having collected a
massive litany of consumer complaints too: nice! So apparently, you’d better
get LifeLock despite perhaps possibly being victimized by them, since “the devil you
know versus the devil you don’t” generally seems to be the common course of
action for most people to take in these types of circumstances.
But this commercial is really funny to me, specifically
because of how they choose to phrase the opening announcer copy. I can’t
remember exactly what they say word for word, as they never seem to want to put
their ads up online. Maybe that’s because then we would have concrete evidence
to use in a false advertising dispute or lawsuit? And they’ve had them before
(and settled them out of court or paid large fines*). But the basic gist is
this: “Bank robbers stole $28 Million last year! Identity thieves? Try $28
Billion! (etc.)” And every time I hear this dialog, I immediately think it
sounds like a challenge to identity thieves to attempt to steal that amount of
money this year too (or perhaps even more!).
And why might a company such as LifeLock want to dare
identity thieves into stealing lots and lots of money, and through the new
suggested means of bank account takeovers? Well, obviously the more money
identity thieves steal, the more people might think they need LifeLock to
protect them! It’s kind of like when Head On headache remedies
made those annoying ads that gave you a headache: they’re helping to create a
problem, and then they offer the solution to it! So this is like the identity
theft version of the old Head & Shoulders ads, where they proclaimed: “That
little itch could be telling you that you have dandruff!” (You might not have
dandruff at all, but once they got you worried about it, and then everyone
started talking about the ads and the itchy-scalp thing, everyone would get all paranoid and buy their
shampoo. Simply reprehensible! Thank goodness Head & Shoulders don’t go that route any longer! And I really wish LifeLock would stop it already with the paranoia/hysteria ads, as they are unseemly, and they generally reflect poorly upon the companies that employ them.)
BTW: I am not saying LifeLock is dishonest or disreputable,
I’m simply stating the facts that their ads are shameless scare-tactic
propaganda, and that they’ve had heaps upon heaps of complaints, lawsuits, and
fraud allegations. But I’m simply stating facts here, not accusing them myself.
Maybe they’re great, but simply misunderstood, or targeted by jealous rivals
and no-longer-successful identity thieves out for revenge. (It is possible, you
know; no matter how unlikely it seems.)
* This information is pretty widely available online, but
check Wikipedia’s page for the bigger examples of lawsuits, false-advertising
claims, fines, etc. (under the heading: “Controversy”):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LifeLock
Oh, and by the way, just because a company pays a fine or a settlement in a lawsuit, it doesn't necessarily mean they've done anything wrong (sometimes it costs so much to keep litigating stuff that it makes more sense just to pay a fine or a settlement just to get it over with), but it doesn't look good when that happens. That's why I think it's a bad idea to run a scare tactic ad campaign when you also have a history of consumer complaints and lawsuits and fraud allegations and stuff like that, because these scare tactic ads and high-pressure salesmanship generally make a company look kind of unscrupulous, and especially in a field like identity-theft protection, where the clients have to give all of their most sensitive personal information to the company, I really feel like the company needs to appear to be beyond reproach and absolutely, completely trustworthy. And this hysteria-generating advertising strategy makes them seem more predatory than immaculate. See what I mean? So I'm just commenting on LifeLock's ad strategy, and how it's perhaps inadvisable when they have a track record of complaints and such like they do. But maybe this is the only way they can get clients, and I have seen their more sober, informational ads, and they're really boring. So I may be wrong about this. It's just that for something as serious as identity theft, this scare tactic strategy leaves a bad taste in my mouth: that's all.
But I love their lock mascot with the police siren light on its head: that's a really inspired stroke of brilliance! It's extremely memorable as a corporate logo & mascot, and that's just great marketing.
Oh, and by the way, just because a company pays a fine or a settlement in a lawsuit, it doesn't necessarily mean they've done anything wrong (sometimes it costs so much to keep litigating stuff that it makes more sense just to pay a fine or a settlement just to get it over with), but it doesn't look good when that happens. That's why I think it's a bad idea to run a scare tactic ad campaign when you also have a history of consumer complaints and lawsuits and fraud allegations and stuff like that, because these scare tactic ads and high-pressure salesmanship generally make a company look kind of unscrupulous, and especially in a field like identity-theft protection, where the clients have to give all of their most sensitive personal information to the company, I really feel like the company needs to appear to be beyond reproach and absolutely, completely trustworthy. And this hysteria-generating advertising strategy makes them seem more predatory than immaculate. See what I mean? So I'm just commenting on LifeLock's ad strategy, and how it's perhaps inadvisable when they have a track record of complaints and such like they do. But maybe this is the only way they can get clients, and I have seen their more sober, informational ads, and they're really boring. So I may be wrong about this. It's just that for something as serious as identity theft, this scare tactic strategy leaves a bad taste in my mouth: that's all.
But I love their lock mascot with the police siren light on its head: that's a really inspired stroke of brilliance! It's extremely memorable as a corporate logo & mascot, and that's just great marketing.
