There's a commercial airing regularly featuring Tom Selleck peddling reverse mortgages. It's too soon to call this a good ad or a bad ad -- the test is how many widgets a commercial sells.
But one notable feature of a version of that ad has Tom Selleck beginning his spiel by telling the camera lens this isn't his first rodeo. What exactly does that mean in this context? This is not his first commercial? Buying a reverse mortgage is like mounting a bucking bronc, and he's done it before?
Grammarist.com defines it this way:
This ain’t my first rodeo means I am not a novice to this situation, I have experience in this area and I am competent. The idiom this ain’t my first rodeo is mostly used in instances where a less experienced person is trying to give advice to a more experienced person, and is meant to establish superiority.
It doesn't quite fit. The TV viewer is not trying to give Tom Selleck advice, it's the other way around.
In any event, an IMDB search dug up a made-for-tv movie in which he played a rodeo rider. The movie is Ruby Jean and Joe summarized thusly:
The elderly and fading rodeo-rider Joe Wade (Tom Selleck) picks up the young female hitchhiker Ruby Jean (Rebekah Johnson). Even though that Joe is constantly being corrected by Ruby Jean their beginning friendship is growing. Their conversations on the road puts both of them in a position to deal with their lives.
Ah ha. It's getting clearer now. Selleck is getting old and has to deal with new things as he ages. He assumes his audience is too. It's starting to make sense now. But sorry, Tom. I'm not in the market for a mortgage, reverse or obverse.
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1:43 PM 10/27/2019
Love it!
What a stupid way to start a commercial.
Posted by: Tom's Ellek | March 13, 2020 at 08:15 PM
I’m 46 and have the same perplexing question about his intro. It’s so bizarre. I’m like “what does a rodeo have to do with mortgages?”. I’m glad I’m not the only person who’s asked this question. I can’t stop thinking about it because a) that commercial probably cost a lot of money, b) they play it constantly, c) why has Tom Selleck sunk this low, c) it really sounds like he’s talking down to his audience. Whatever the case, someone who has been in a rodeo before (figuratively or literally) wouldn’t sway me in the slightest when it comes to taking out a reverse mortgage. I asked my elderly parents what they think and they said they have no clue.
Posted by: David | May 28, 2020 at 01:25 PM
Are those posters above that dumb - or not? It's just another adage such as, "more than one way to skin a cat" which has nothing to do with cats!
Posted by: Gene Campbell | May 28, 2020 at 03:24 PM
Selleck is trying to sell home loans, and there's nothing wrong with an actor choosing that as his retirement job.
But for a metaphor to work, there should be at least some connection to the situation. The rodeo metaphor just doesn't fit.
The cat skinning metaphor actually might be a better fit. But good luck with the animal lovers.
Posted by: Geo | June 11, 2020 at 04:28 PM
Selleck had me confused. Had he ever been to a rodeo?
He has sunk to a new low.
Giddy up Tom
Posted by: joohn karad | August 24, 2020 at 12:23 PM
I have never been a selleck fan, but this sickens me. He talks like he knows what is best for people who don't have his wealth. I lose respect for any celebrity peddling crap to the most vulnerable of our people. This goes double for joe mcmath, hocking medicare supplements to seniors. Don't get me started on alex trebeck.
Posted by: Sunny | September 29, 2020 at 03:36 PM