Alta Vista Said “Yes!”

I encounter this billboard on the 215 Freeway several times a week. It’s the picture on the left, with the banner exclamation beneath: “Alta Vista Said ‘Yes’.” It’s an encounter that infuriates me.

There’s not much I can say about it that isn’t obvious. It’s a billboard placed where thousands of motorists will see it every day. It depicts a moment much manipulated in American consumer lore, the moment of purchasing a shiny new car. The smiling faces of the truck’s new owners are surely to be envied, for they have gained entrance into some rarified air.

Yet the billboard doesn’t advertise the car, or even the car’s dealer. It advertises the credit union that provided the financing for the car. And what the billboard wants us to know is that the credit union is a “Yes”-saying credit union. They are an institution that grants permission for ordinary men and women like these two to have the things they deserve. When others say “no,” Alta Vista says . . . you get the idea.

The problem, obviously, is that other credit unions probably said “no” for a good reason, and it probably has to do with the over-indebtedness of the average American. As the recent mortgage crisis demonstrates, lending institutions positively lick their lips at the opportunity to snag already over-debted  consumers and lock them into high interest rates and sub-prime schemes. But they said “Yes!”

I’m not sure why the encounter with this ad is so negative for me. Maybe it’s because I have anger over my own debt. Or maybe it’s because the ad is obviously targeting minorities in a low-income neighborhood. Or maybe it’s just the basic recognition that when a money-lending company spends money to advertise, what they’re offering can’t be good.

But they’re sure to snag a few suckers before they’re done.