Those random Wabac machine moments

I just blew by one of those hand-wringing stories that Yahoo news does so well, about the evils of taking money out of your 401k too early. Presumably, the evils apply only if you still have money in your 401k.

This reminded me, somehow, of a bank radio ad hereabouts from about 1980 or so, in which the disclaimer tail briefly got to wag the advertising dog, thanks to a few misplaced words. This disclaimer was the sort that warned you that if you cashed in your CD early, your earnings went south.

There is a right way and a wrong way to get this message across. The wrong way (the one used) was "premature withdrawal results in the forfeiture of all interest." Believe it or not, things like this could go viral even before the Internet. The morning this subtle message appeared on Boston radio, I arrived at work to find my (mostly female) employees almost insensible with laughter over the message. The women were eager to confirm to the men that the message was true. It also disappeared very quickly, replaced in a day or so by something in more sedate banker prose. Knowing the industry a little, I suspect that the other disappearances were among the copywriters, who at least exited laughing.