For a personal finance personality, Suze Orman sure has a spotlight on her that includes a share of haters — this weekend's Saturday Night Live certainly didn't hold back in its depiction of the money matron. The past year has given Suze the opportunity to take her career to the celebrity level: According to Davie-Brown (a company that tracks the appeal of celebrities), Suze Orman is now "on par" with celebrities like Elton John and Nicollette Sheridan. It's hard to wrap my head around the idea that Suze could be as famous as Sir Elton John, and there are a lot of people out there questioning the methods she's used to get herself to this place. Find out what people are saying about her when you read more.
Suze's job is to give advice about money, but her critics observe that during the past year she's been using fear mongering tactics to benefit her stardom. She appeared on Oprah just last week and the promo for the episode (video below) gives some evidence that this could be true. On top of this general criticism, her Got Milk advertisement has raised eyebrows because of the innate conflict of a personal finance adviser starring (and being paid for) an ad that aims to sell.
Do you think Suze Orman has capitalized on public fear to promote herself? Is it wrong for someone in her position to endorse products?
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I don't think I'd even know about her if it wasn't for Kirsten Wiig's SPOT ON impersonations of her on SNL. They have been hilarious, and my husband and I watched a few Suze shows to see if the SNL spoof is accurate.
As far as the milk ad, I'm a little reluctant to call out hypocrisy just because there is the health benefit of milk that almost negates the selling aspect of the ads. Personally I've always viewed the Got Milk campaign as more of a nutritional public service announcement than a "go out and buy more milk" campaign. Maybe I'm just naive...
1I'd never hear of her either until the SNL skits.
2I have her book for "the young fabulous and broke" and it helped me prioritize when I first got out of school, and when I was thinking about buying a house.
3Her show used to air late at night on weekends. CNBC started airing it on late afternoons on weekdays, then was replaced by Carmen Wong Ulrich.
For a good deal of the people that ask Suzie for advice, I think it would be best that instead of constantly saying to stop spending money, she should tell them to get a job that pays more money. For some of the people that she advises, for them to save more would mean to move in with the parents and buy a 15 year-old Civic, or ditch the car completely.
4Suze's show airs on Saturday nights at 9 PM EST on CNBC. I watch it regularly and have learned quite a bit, though some of the advice she gives is very repetitive. I also own her book "Women and Money" and have gleaned some useful info from there.
However questionable her path to stardom may have been, it doesn't make her any different from other "celebrities" out there who always promote themselves and their brand. And for her to jump on the fear bandwagon is not a surprise at all; our government, especially the Federal Reserve and Hank Paulsen, have been pretty good at promoting fear these past couple of months and using it to get lucrative bailout packages passed.
5I think her and Elton share clothing... not status...
6well i've heard about her for ages and i think that she's in a position where people trust her judgment and i don't know if her tactics are the best way to go. not that we need to be treated wit kid gloves, there's something to be said about scaring people cause that is what causes chaos rather than educated decisions.
i saw the skit on SNL though and really thought that they did a great job. they are doing an amazing job on the show with impersonations lately.
i don't know if i agree that she's on part with some of the most well known celebs - but i guess in today's era where everyone now seems to know who jim cramer and all those other hosts are - it could be gaining some legs...
7I think she gives great advice. I know a lot of people dislike her "in-your-face" or "preachy" tone, but sometimes that's the reality check people really need to change.
8As irritating as she can be, at least she's doing something useful compared with most celebrities out there.
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