According to the swan song commercial
of the E*Trade baby he is quitting
his lucrative run as the image of the online digital discount broker because he
cannot work with a talking cat as a sidekick.
You can watch the diminutive spokesperson’s tirade on YouTube here. That is the official story that the company
is going with . . . but rumor has it that the little guy was canned . . . fired
. . . put out to pasture as being a thing of the past. According to an article on MSN
News website, the company wants
to update its image and believes that the iconic baby has served its purpose .
. . the company wants to grow up . . . at least make it into the wonder years
of being a teenager!
Babies have a certain way that they
tug at the heartstrings of people.
Babies are cute . . . babies are cuddly . . . and, babies that give
stock tips and speak in a baritone voice; well, they grab the attention of
people. E*Trade got exactly what it wanted from the little guy for seven
years . . . lots of attention . . . lots of business. The reality, though, is that babies and
puppies grow up and they are not so cute and cuddly as they get older . . .
even if they have baritone voices and know their stock markets. The truth is that the kid got too big for his
diapers. The advertisements ran for a
little over seven years before this reported break between the company and
actor.
That’s right . . . actor. The baby was an actor . . . an actor that
acted and spoke whatever the script said.
An actor . . . nothing more, nothing less. The kid did what the kid was supposed to
do. The kid was not a financial genius
or stock wizard at two-foot tall; nope, just an actor reading lines. Though the commercials were clever, witty,
and cute, I had a difficult time taking serious the idea that I was going to
invest my lifetime savings with some company that used a baby for a
spokesperson. I don’t think that I was
the only person who had this problem; and, because I wasn’t the only one with
this problem, the company took notice . . . it was time to can the kid and grow
up.
Now, I know that all of us should be
upset and sad that the tike got canned, but I am sure that the kid was well
compensated for the seven-some years that he was the spokesperson for E*Trade.
At least I hope so. I also hope
that he hasn’t fallen into the misfortunates of other child actors who made it
big in their infancy. I hope that he has
taken his own advice and invested his earnings well so that he lives a free and
easy life from here on out. I really do
hope that I don’t see stories and news reports of the kid acting like a brat
creating all sorts of terrible scenarios like some people we know . . . I don’t
want to mention names, Justin . . . but, you know what I mean. The bottom line is that I cannot be upset and
sad for the little guy . . . the rich little
guy. True, it is hard to fall from the
top, but he is young and there is a whole lot of life in front of him . . .
plus, he is rich. Being rich often helps
ease the pain of disappointment.
It is a changing of the guard. Like many, I will miss the little guy hawking
the benefits of E*Trade . . . it was
amusing entertainment while it lasted.
The little guy will laugh all the way to the bank . . . the company will
attempt to create another iconic image . . . and, we, the people, will still be
bewildered in what any of these silly commercials have to do with investing our
hard-earned money with these companies.
Like the dancing baby from that gained fame and fortune on Ally McBeal, all babies
grow up . . . life goes on. The kid had
more than his fifteen minutes of fame . . . and, was well paid for it.
Sad and upset? No.
The kid was lucky. We were all
cute and smart when we were babies . . . after all, we are all the children of
Lake Wobegon . . . we just weren’t in the right place at the right time when
opportunity came knocking. Now, if E*Trade is willing to take a risk on an
older middle-aged guy, balding with a spare tire around the middle he has
nick-named “Dunlop”, who lives in rural Montana . . . well, I am that guy! I can read and act as well as any baby. All I ask for is a chance . . . isn’t that
what we all ask for in the end? For
that, I applaud the kid’s demise . . . E*Trade
knows where they can find me.
