The CFP Board’s controversial, new “Quite Possibly The Perfect Job” advertising campaign has gone viral, but not in the way the organization intended.

A growing number of CFP practitioners are up in arms over the campaign, which depicts next-generation prospective CFPs as sleeping, taking a bubble bath or entering a burrito-eating contest. The ads are intended to underscore the benefits of the career’s work-life balance.

The “Perfect Job” campaign, which has been blasted out across social media platforms, was announced at the CFP Board’s “Connections Conference” in Washington, DC on September 29 to address the “supply-demand imbalance” of qualified, competent planners by encouraging high school and college students to consider and potentially choose a career as a CFP-designated financial planner, CFP Board Chairman Matt Boersen said.

“I’m about to lose my mind over this ad,” advisor Justin Rice, CFP, a financial planner at Personal Wealth Advisors, in Hamilton, New Jersey, posted on Linkedin along with the ad, drawing concerned and negative comments from more than 30 advisors, CPAs and estate attorneys, many of them with CFPs.

“I understand the idea of the campaign, but the execution is suboptimal,” Rice said in an interview. “There are pictures of kids sleeping or eating burritos or sitting in a bubble bath next to the phrase ‘quite possibly the best job ever,’ There is zero context. And who is going to hire teens like this?” Rice asked. “The ads are going viral, but I don’t think it reflects well on profession as a whole.”

The planner, who obtained his CFP in 2017, said he is also worried that the ads miss the mark in terms of what types of students they will attract to the profession. It may potentially be a turn off to investors and potential clients, who he said he understood were not the subject of the ad campaign, but may still  see it.

“Do we want to attract burrito-eating competitors or go-getters who are great in math or science, such as would-be engineers or doctors, who get pushed into those careers and never hear about the financial planning profession and its benefits? I was on the biomedical engineering path in college, getting my Ph.D. after obtaining my masters in engineering from Rutgers University when I stumbled into financial planning,” Rice said.

Boersen said they “have received both positive and negative feedback. Since launching the campaign on September. 16, we’ve seen success with our intended audience — college and college-bound high school students — and have received hundreds of student inquiries about financial planning careers.

“CFP professionals have shared, however, that the static single-image ads lack sufficient context, and there is confusion about the target audience. These ads are aimed at students, not consumers, and are separate from the consumer-focused Public Awareness Campaign,” Boersen added.

Rice urged the CFP Board to pull the ad campaign and replace it with one that attracts top candidates capable of the job. “I would urge the CFP Board to compare the job of CFPs to other successful careers where successful students are headed, such as that of doctors or engineers,” he said. “Right now, the ads show future CFPs sleeping during the day, taking bubble baths and eating endless burritos. In one of the posts they say our median income is $192,000, next to a guy sleeping,” Rice added.

CFP Board officials said advisors might be mistaking who the individuals in the ads were. "These ads are not portrayals or depictions of CFP professionals; rather, they are facetious jobs intended to help the student audience think about what their dream job might look like," CFP Board Spokesman Joe Feese said.

Boersen said, however, that the “ad campaign will run through the end of the year. As with any marketing campaign, we are monitoring key performance metrics to ensure it reaches the intended audience and delivers results. The marketing team and our creative agency are optimizing the campaign based on these metrics. We are also working with our creative agency to enhance the ads to feature stronger messaging that adds context so that the benefits of the profession come through clearly and positively.” 

Advisors continued to take to social media to address the controversy. “Haha, wow, this looks like a parody. Can’t believe this got approved. Are they intentionally trying to sabotage the designation?” Andy Krafft, CPA, CFP, asked on Linkedin.

Rice said he believed the CFP Board was “definitely not trying to sabotage [the designation.Their] heart is in the right place. They’re trying to attract new people into the industry. This isn’t the way to do it though.”

The dearth of advisors is concerning to the CFP Board and advisory firms, who stand to lose 106,264 or 36.8% of advisors to retirement and an estimated $11.9 trillion or 38.9% of assets as a result, Cerulli research shows.

Michael Kitces, the co-founder of the XY Planning Network, also took to Linkedin, noting that “with all the upset over the CFP Board’s recent ad campaign” advisors should “describe what makes a financial planning career so amazing” using the hashtag #QuitePossiblyThePerfectJob, “so everyone can view and share.”

Rice said, “Here’s what I know about financing planning: It demands dedication. The CFP certification exam is tough. Lazy people won’t pass. Commitment is key. Real planners work hard for clients. They don’t sleep on the job. They master their craft. Balance is earned. Misleading ads hurt."

Did the CFP Board have any hint the ad campaign would be so controversial? Boersen said, “When I initially watched the ads for this campaign, my gut reaction was that they were edgy and different. I wasn’t sure about them.

"However, I had to remind myself that I am a 36-year-old financial planner and not the intended audience for this campaign. ... These ads are for high school and college students. Our research told us that we needed a provocative message to break through with this group, and I realized this campaign did exactly that, so I gave it my full support.”

“The current campaign will continue to evolve as we measure its success in reaching the target audience,” he added.

 The CFP Board is also exploring ways to reach career changers who are already established in their profession, Boersen said.