Naive delusions cherished by the ignorant: what advertising can and cannot do
As we have discovered to our cost, bankers may not be in the same category as paedophiles, but they do tend far too often to be grasping soulless bastards.
No doubt you like me wonder why none – in this country anyhow – have landed in jail so far. Some major culprits still being paid millions to do a very bad job.
Mr Jenkins at Barclays seems a prime example. It is about a year since he famously said “We must never again be in a position of rewarding people for making the bank money in a way which is inconsistent with our values”.
These cherished values have just resulted in the bank being accused by the New York Attorney General of a “Flagrant pattern of fraud, deception and dishonesty.”
Either Mr.Jenkins is bloody useless as he didn’t know what was going on under his nose, or bloody dishonest as he allowed it to happen. But why should he care? He was due to get £4m in shares last February as a reward for whichever characteristic is correct.
Evidence of just how clueless top bankers are emerged a few days ago when I read that top bankers have just decided it’s important to simplify things.
Anyone who ever bought a hamburger at McDonalds or a book on Amazon – anyone with even a passing understanding of business – knows how vital it is to make things easy for customers. But these overpaid, smug bozos have only just latched on.
They are also among the many who don’t really understand what advertising can and cannot do. It cannot, for instance, change the facts.
Ever since the great 2008 catastrophe they have been strengthening their balance sheets – which they must to avoid another disaster. So they haven’t been lending, and everyone has noticed. Some have run ad campaigns claiming they do, using selective examples. This won’t work if most people know damn well that they don’t.
Others have decided that all you have to do is claim you are nice and everyone will believe you. A good example is the poster illustrated, which I saw in New Jersey recently. I reviewed itt last month in AskDrayton, with a number of others. It’s actually rather good advertising – but the fatal flaw I mentioned: nobody will believe it.
And the other day – which prompted this effusion – I read that Commbank in Australia, which has been up to all the usual dirty tricks, is running a campaign that purports to show they’re human. It won’t work. Turds are turds and banks – for the most part – appear to be run by overpaid, grasping shits.
They should save their money and put it into doing a better job for customers.
By the way, if you want to know the seven things you must excel at to succeed in this wicked world, they are listed at the start of this page.
