The Feed the Pig campaign is sweeping the nation with its neat commercials and interactive Web site. Haven’t heard of it? Feed the Pig is a public relations program of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, designed to promote successful saving. Their human-sized pig, Benjamin Bankes, dons a pink tuxedo and speaks of ways to stop overspending in everyday life. Below are a couple of Feed the Pig commercials:
Feed the Pig’s Web site is quite eye-catching, too. I have to warn you though — I found Benjamin a little creepy, as he is a computer-generated pig man, but he is very approachable and adds a facet of entertainment to the site.
Benjamin reminds you to feed your piggy bank with the catchphrase “Feed Me!” The site allows you to pick your inner spender, whether it’s the “chronic collector” or the “spendy socialite.” Each of the 7 personas is represented by a character, which the user can then select and learn about. Once the character is selected, the user is then prompted to choose a number of habits and see how much money is actually being spent on each habit. It is a great visual way to learn how to save.
Users can also enter their current household income and current debt into the site, in order to calculate how much money must be set aside per year to pay it off and/or collect savings. The site’s “Beat your Brain” quiz is designed to find the user’s inner spender and discover how to outsmart it. Feed the Pig even offers basic saving tips, resources, and a Facebook application for overspenders. Overall, the site is extremely interactive and I would recommend it to anyone looking to save and wanting to spend savvy!
(Itty) Bitty Budget 