TV Commercial:
FedEx One Rate Nana’s Knitting
Description:
In this commercial for FedEx’s One Rate service, Grandma (Nana) tells her daughter that using One Rate is so easy and inexpensive she can ship as much knitting and cozies as she wants. The name of the actress that plays Nana’s daughter is Anna Vocino. The name of the older actress that plays nana is not known.
Transcript:
(Nana, on the phone): Hi honey, did you get the toaster cozy?
(Daughter, in house full of knitted blankets, table covers, and a knitted christmas tree cover): Yep, got all the cozies
(Nana): With new FedEx One Rate I could fill a box and ship it for one flat rate, so I knit until it was full
(Daughter): Be crazy not to
(Grandson, wrapped in a knitted cozy): Is that Nana?
(Announcer): FedEx One Rate. Simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of FedEx
Statements or claims made and what they really mean:
- What the commercial said: I could fill a box and ship it for one flat rate / Simple, flat rate shipping
- What some people might think that means: I can fill a box with anything, no matter what, ship it for a flat rate
- What it really means: At the very end of the commercial, in moderately small print, the following is shown for approximately 1 second:
Terms, conditions, and weight limits apply. Proper packing required
What does the fine print mean?
The fine print means that there is a limit to how heavy a package can be, and that you must properly package it before it can be shipped. It also means that there are more rules/regulations, but there is no mention of what these rules, terms or conditions are. A search of the FedEx website reveals the following FAQ about the weight limits on One Rate envelopes and boxes:
..in order to receive FedEx One Rate pricing, shipments must not exceed 10 lbs. for FedEx Envelopes and 50 lbs. for FedEx boxes, paks or tubes…
This means that if Nana’s knitting weighed more than 50 pounds, her package would not qualify for the One Rate pricing.
Summary:
This commercial uses little deceptive wording, but some people may find that displaying the fine-print for less than one second to be an intentional attempt at hiding additional terms and conditions.
Isn’t the grandmother in the knitting commercial for FedEx the woman who played the mother of family in Happy Days?
Mrs. Cunningham on Happy Days was played by Marion Ross who is much older than Nana in this commercial, and does not have that huge muffin-flop.