I own a iPhone. I even stood in line to get it. So this post is going to sound awfully hypocritical, and you know what, it probably is. Except for those slated for sainthood of the world, people tend to fall into camps 1) hypocrites 2) justifiers. I’m more the former than the latter. I was pointed to the following Canadian Ad from Virgin Mobile(some people may consider the ad a bit risque> from the folks at Crackberry.

There are so many things wrong with the ad, and I’m not in the puritan camp. I think it’s ok to show a little skin. Hell, I’m writing this without a shirt - though I guess my shades are drawn and I’m home alone, and Virgin mobile hasn’t offered to film my daily routine, so it’s not really a big deal. Nor is it just because I could be mistaken for being an Apple iPhone fanboy. It’s the grumpy old anti-consumerist in me.

Virgin Mobile targets a younger (often students) and generally speaking more financially constrained crowd. I would know I used to be a Virgin mobile customer. I was on a prepaid plan not too many years ago. Many people on prepaid plans are on them because they don’t have good credit. I wasn’t one of these individuals. I was just trying to be frugal. I hardly use any minutes, so the paying by the minute actually made more financial sense. I switched off that plan when I went to a family plan that made even more economic sense. Now, I’m an iPhone Family plan that’s really not very economic, but quite fun :)

What Virgin is selling is a lifestyle. Nothing wrong with that lifestyle, but they are marketing a lifestyle knowing full well their target market cannot afford that lifestyle. How many 20 year olds live alone in such swank digs? I know when I was 22 and straight out of college, I lived in a rodent infested apartment with ratty carpets with two other guys. While everyone is responsible for their own actions, it would be naive to believe that we, the Consumerist North Americana, are not a influenced by the images we are constantly shown. I don’t have a problem with the Ads such as this that pitch the high life, I just wish that there was also more counterbalancing images. Maybe they should show the same girl featured in the Ad asking mom and dad for money, or eating ramen noodles?

-Sent from an iPhone