A comercial success? Not exactly.

There is an ad out right now for a credit card that gives cash back on all purchases. The commercial starts with two women buying some groceries at the supermarket. One pays with cash, the other with her credit card. The cash woman is slightly skeptical about the the benefit of getting cash back on the card. "What did you get, two dollars?" she asks somewhat dismissively. "Yeah," replies her friend, "what did you get?" She then walks off screen (possibly getting hit by a vehicle in the parking lot as retribution for her attitude of superiority...that's left somewhat vague and ambiguous) while her friend looks surprised.
There are a couple of things about the ad that I notice. First of all, much of the 'conflict' of the ad revolves around the fact that the cash woman is surprised by the other woman using her credit card. The groceries she bought had to equal twenty to thirty dollars at least. In my experience, it is not surprising at all to see people use their credit card for purchases much smaller than that. It is possible that there is a back story here to which we are not privy - perhaps the credit card woman had problems with overspending on credit cards in the past and had vowed to never use a credit card again, and that is why the cash lady is surprised. But it really seems to be set up as though the cash lady is surprised that anyone would use their credit card for such a small purchase.
The second thing I notice is that the woman who uses the credit card is white, while the person who uses the cash is not. She seems to be of East Indian origin, or perhaps more middle eastern. I can't remember exactly at the moment, but whatever she is, she is not white. It is perhaps an indication of the times that I would even notice that. I'm not saying I'm offended by it, because I'm not. But I am very aware of it. Anytime there is a part played by a 'minority', I can't help but critique the role on the basis of its racial-nicity. That's a good word.
All that to say, I'm not against the card, seems like a good idea, but I don't really like the ad.