AmEx, I'm Disappointed (though I should know better)

There's an American Express commercial on t.v. lately that really bothers me. The premise is that customer service agents for AmEx tell stories of how they helped card holders in some special way that warmed their hearts. I don't mind the idea, most of the stories are innocuous, but there's this one that I can't even have as background noise, it demonstrates all that's wrong with our culture of consumerism.

The AmEx rep tells a story of how they helped a customer who proposed to his girlfriend. The newly engaged couple were at the jewelry store to buy an engagement ring and whatever credit card he was using was declined (certainly it wasn't an American Express card). So his fiance suggests he call AmEx, which he does, and they issue him a new credit card with a balance high enough to allow him to begin his married bliss deep in debt.

Other stories told in this line of commercials are ones where the customer service agent helped the customer get something they had difficulty getting on their own -- more like a concierge service (plane tickets, theater tickets, dinner reservations, etc.). Those I can tolerate. I understand it is a commercial for a credit card and they make their money when we spend what we don't have, carry a balance and pay interest. It's the name of the game and knowing that I can suffer through the other "heart warming stories".

The engagement ring one though is a tough pill for me to swallow. The idea that the fiance suggests to her groom-to-be that he open a new credit card so she can wear something big & shiny rather than have some patience so he can actually afford to buy her a ring (and for AmEx to make this commercial not only condoning this, but encouraging it). Maybe they could have chosen something smaller, or of a lower quality -- something that was in the budget. No, in this story the ring obviously came ahead of the marriage. I hope AmEx gave him a Black card so she can charge their lives away for the wedding.

Our culture is one of consumption, there's no way around it. We are marketed to directly & indirectly to buy more, have more -- it's the American way; have the biggest, newest, "best" toy and your status in this society rises. That must be why bride-to-be suggested her honey get a whole new line of debt -- she was just trying to be a good American.