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(I know I said in my last post I would talk about some stuff I learned on my vacation about marketing, and also why I hate The Wiggles, but there’s a small bit of research I need to do that I just haven’t had time for. So The Wiggles get bumped to tomorrow. Or maybe Thursday.)

Surprising “celebrity” endorsements

So Hyundai is running a series of TV ads right now that feature three more-or-less prominent financial advisors trying to talk people into buying a new car. Their argument is basically, “Take the money you’ll save on this new Hyundai and invest it so you can make even more money while enjoying a brand new car!” My first thought was: “Huh?” This ad campaign raises a couple of questions:

1. Who are these guys?
2. What are they doing?

One answer:

1. The three advisors are Ray Lucia, Larry Winget, and Adam Smith. I’ve never heard of Lucia. I think I’ve seen books by Winget at the bookstore. A financial advisor having the name Adam Smith is so good, it almost has to be made up. Okay, a quick bit of research (yay, Google and the Wikipedia!; also, the Wikipedia being what it is, if I’ve got my facts wrong, let me know) teaches me that Lucia and Smith host radio and/or TV shows on money management. Adam Smith is indeed a pseudonymn for George Goodman. Winget has a series of books where he berates people for their poor financial situation and tells them how to suck it up and fix it.
2. I still don’t get what they’re doing.

Financial advisors sell out?

Every personal financial expert I’ve heard or seen speak or write on the topic of car purchases has basically said never buy new, always buy good used, a new vehicle loses some percent of its value as soon as it leaves the lot. Honestly, I couldn’t find what any of these three have said on the topic. Maybe Hyundai signed them up because they’re three of the few sort-of-big-name finance gurus who are okay with advising buying new cars. I don’t know. I’m sure appearing in these commercials was great for these advisors’ bottom line. But will it be worth it?

Having three high profile financial advisors making a recommendation that goes against prevailing financial wisdom has to rankle others in their profession, and it creates confusion about financial best practices in buying a new car. Their—or, rather, Hyundai’s—argument is pretty weak. Sure, I can save money on their new car and invest it. But I can save even more money on a good used car and invest that.

So why would these three advisors give me less-than-great financial advice?

The bottom line: damaged brands and consumer confusion

What it looks like to me is this: Simply, these three advisors made a lot of money by pitching bad financial advice for a car company. In doing so, they’ve sacrificed their credibility (with me, anyway) and probably created headaches for other financial advisors who still advise buying quality used. I will never pay much heed to any advice they give in the future, and I certainly won’t buy their books. But then, maybe they don’t care. Maybe they’ve made their fortunes, and maybe they have all the groupies they need.

But trading credibility for money still seems like a poor trade to me.