I like a lot of things, one of my favourites is humiliating advertising u-turns, especially the manoeuvres that are performed so quietly as if to pretend they never happened in the first place.
I hate Barclays Bank, not least because they are my bank and I have yet to receive a chance card telling me of a bank error in my favour, they just keep sending me letters telling me that my errors are in their favour to the tune of £27.50 each time.
A couple of years ago they went on some silly rebranding exercise, trying to make the branches look cool and not all fuddy duddy or somesuch bullshit.
This meant they now actually call cash machines a “Hole in the wall” it’s actually written above each one, it makes me want to hurt something.
Aha, here is an article about it http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4674548.stm when it happened
note the following quotes and try not to ruin your nice computer by vomitting…
The bank said it wants to move away from confusing acronyms and jargon, using “more colloquial” terms instead.
Customers will be beckoned into branch with a sign in the window reading: “Through this door walk the nicest people in the world”.
On entering and leaving the branch customers will see signs reading “Hi” and “Bye” respectively.
I want my banks to be dusty places with a lot or seriousness in the air, I don’t want to go in and find them all playing frisbee whilst I wait to ask if I can extend my overdraft. It doesn’t matter how colloquial you make it, a cunt saying no is still a cunt saying no, whether there’s a thumbs up and a dude attached or not.
But the biggie was surely relating to the pens…
“The chain on the pen sums up the relationship banks have had with their customers for too long – basically we don’t trust you to leave this pen behind after you use it, yet we expect you to entrust us with your life savings.”
For the last couple of years Barclays have had little plastic boxes of pens, telling us how great they are and how great they think we are, have a pen.
And I have taken their pens, by the bucketload. They’re quite nice to write with and I’m trying to take enough to counteract the bank charges.
Yet since this big rebranding there’s been this tiny credit crunch thing and all the banks have had to cut costs. And sure enough, in my local branch, the pens are back on chains.
No big song and dance about it though, are they cutting costs? Or do they just not trust us anymore?
This is exactly the sort of thing. Very good.