Have a look at this:
Is it just me or did it make you wildly angry as well?
Apart from the ‘twist’ being more obvious than some Playboy centerfolds tits, the whole fucking thing is a masterclass in contrived and flawed advertising.
Contrived because of course it has every cliché cue of ‘wealth’ known to man.
Bentley?
Check.
Chauffer?
Check.
Chauffer in peaked cap?
Check.
Patronising end line by a financial organisation?
Check.
Patronising voice over that tries to sound authoritarian and empathetic all at the same time. And failing.
Check.
However it’s the fact that they are trying to claim their customers are hard-working, value-ridden, decent people that bugs me the most, because if that was the case, why the fuck would they have a chauffeur … worse, a chauffeur who is forced to wear a peaked cap, a jacket and a tie while they drive you about as you sit in the back like you’re a member of fucking royalty.
That’s not a ‘man of the people’, that’s a fucking pretentious twat.
In fact the only thing that is unique about this whole sorry 30 seconds of communication is that the music bed accompanying the spot shuns the usual classical/opera tonality of financial institutions and replaces it with something that wouldn’t be out of place in a shitty supermarket.
Seriously, this isn’t an ad designed to attract customers, it’s an ad designed to make the board of Bank of Singapore delude themselves that they’re not as bad as every other corporate financial institution board, despite the fact I’d bet they all live the sort of life that disconnects them from pretty much any single individual who lives by a genuine – and positive – code of honor.
And Bank of Singapore have the nerve to say they believe in the value of ‘hard work’.
Hard work!?
What hard work, unless finding ways to keep charging clients a fucking fortune while they squander billions, requires a bit of effort.
I once was asked that if I had a personalised car number plate, what would it say.
I replied, that if I had a personalised number plate, it would say I was a fucking cock.
I was wrong.
It would also say I was a customer – or employee – of the Bank of Singapore.
52 Comments so far
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fuck me campbell, we agree.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 6:22 amI’m as shocked as you are.
Comment by Rob May 8, 2012 @ 6:49 amthats fucking impossible.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 7:05 amits fucking laughable when banks try and come across all warm and fucking fluffy. bit like when welsh people try and come across as normal. totally fucking unbelievable.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 6:24 amExcellent nation insulting there Andy. You’ve still got it.
Comment by Rob May 8, 2012 @ 6:53 ampractice makes fucking perfect.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 7:06 amthe boot of that bentley doesnt close smoothly. id get that fucking looked into if i was him.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 6:25 amthe ad even feels fucking smug, as if the bastards behind it think “this will fool them.”
well it didnt. you all look a bunch of wankers and i wouldnt piss on you if you were on fire. unless my piss was petrol.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 6:27 amThe bank for the hardworking would be interesting.
The bank for the entrepreneur would be interesting.
The bank for the reluctantly wealthy would be interesting.
The bank of singapore managed to miss every opportunity and end up with a contrived, unbelievable and insulting idea and ad.
Way to go bank.
Comment by Pete May 8, 2012 @ 6:29 ami think i must be ill because i like this comment and i really fucking like the “reluctantly wealthy” thought. my beautiful child has weakened my resolve. i knew kids were evil little sods.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 6:36 amDefinitely ill. Maybe it’s a cold rather than Bonnie?
Comment by Pete May 8, 2012 @ 6:39 amblaming a cold rather than blaming my daughter? thats good fucking planner insight right fucking there. its also avoiding a trip to the a&e. smart move pete. this new you pisses on the old you.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 6:44 amThe voiceover guy seems to think he’s voicing a trailer for an overly serious art house movie. Instead he’s voicing it for a comedy. Crap ad. Crap everything.
Comment by DH May 8, 2012 @ 6:32 amIt’s a classic Singaporean voiceover guy. Over dramatic, over contrived, over enunciated, under impactful.
Comment by Pete May 8, 2012 @ 6:39 amare you becoming a hardass pete? has sarah got you on the fucking steroids? vast fucking improvement, keep it up.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 6:41 amYour Singapore experience really made an impact on you didn’t it Pete. Hahaha.
Comment by Rob May 8, 2012 @ 6:53 amThe bank for the hard working wealthy? Guess that rules you out Rob.
Comment by DH May 8, 2012 @ 6:34 amhe probably owns them.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 6:37 amPewrsonalised number plates are often quite small.
Comment by John May 8, 2012 @ 6:39 amwhy is your spelling so fucking shit today doddsy?
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 6:42 amMy spelling is great. My typing less so. It’s probably beause I’m angry. Not at this ad. It doesn’t make me angry, but what might make me angry would be, oh let me think, if say I left a comment on a blog and got spammed with this
“Howdy.
You recently followed this blog’s posts. This means you will receive each new post by email.
To activate, click confirm below. If you believe this is an error, ignore this message and we’ll never bother you again.”
What might make me angrier would be to ignore it and then get bothered again!
The user experience of this blog is not what it used to be. I blame the author.
Comment by John May 8, 2012 @ 6:48 amHang on, are you saying this blog spammed you? Brilliant.
No seriously, did it???
Comment by Rob May 8, 2012 @ 6:54 amAnd nice ‘typing vs. spelling’ pedantic comment. You’ve still got it too.
Comment by Rob May 8, 2012 @ 6:55 amYes. Unfortunately for you, I’m guessing it spammed the doting father as well.
Comment by John May 8, 2012 @ 6:57 amit knows better than to do that to me doddsy. or it could be i havent checked my email in fucking weeks.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 7:08 amand i do know how to check my email so back the fuck off.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 7:09 amOf course you know, you just shout for your much better half to do it for you. Or Bonnie.
Comment by Rob May 8, 2012 @ 7:21 amwanker.
but youre right about bonnie. shes very advanced for her age. takes after her dad. and dont say another fucking word or youll be eating hospital food.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 7:26 amHold on one fucking minute. I kick off two days ago about getting spammed by this blog and no one says a word not a fucking dickie bird
Comment by Northern May 9, 2012 @ 5:11 amThen mr pedantic whines and everyone is up in arms
No one listens to me at fucking home
No one listens to me on this creche for ad industry deviants
I can’t believe I’m saying this but thank fuck for work where people actually listen to what I say
And then fuck it up anyway come to think of it
Oh well that’s life
But well played on the typing excuse dodds that’s precisely my predicament or one of them
i saw it groper. then i just fucking ignored it.
Comment by andy@cynic May 9, 2012 @ 6:19 amThat ad is terrible for all the reasons in the post and the comments but there’s gold in Pete’s “reluctantly wealthy” idea. Wonder who will steal it first?
Comment by Bazza May 8, 2012 @ 7:32 amRob. He’s probably out selling it now.
Comment by DH May 8, 2012 @ 7:34 amOh dear.
Comment by George May 8, 2012 @ 7:58 amSure, sure it’s crap and all that though more importantly do they give you one of those chauffeurs with a hat when you open an account with them?
Comment by Willem van der Horst (@Hippowill) May 8, 2012 @ 10:11 amYou get a free chauffeur driven Bentley when you agree to let the Bank of Singapore lose 10 million of your dollars in some dodgy investment scheme. Allegedly.
Comment by Rob May 8, 2012 @ 2:56 pmI’m reluctantly poor.
Comment by Marcus May 8, 2012 @ 2:20 pmGenius.
Comment by Rob May 8, 2012 @ 3:00 pmJust the sad, bitter truth I’m afraid.
Comment by Marcus May 8, 2012 @ 3:19 pmWhat made me surprise is the man wearing a suit at the beginning of the ad, then he’s wearing a hat sitting in front of the car. And the “hard work” line, yes, it sounds inappropriate. I think that the “timeless value of hard work” should be better combined with the right idea, visual, and music
Comment by Ethenia Novianty (@niathenia) May 8, 2012 @ 5:16 pmWow. Just wow.
As Pete said, some interesting thoughts could have appeared there and instead you get something that is bland, uninspiring and does nothing whatsoever to make BOS feel any different to every other boring bank in the world.
I watch HSBC ads and they make me smile, I watch this and it makes a huge question mark appear above my head as to why they thought this would inspire anyone to switch banks.
Comment by Rob Mortimer (Not a fake Andy) May 8, 2012 @ 5:32 pmLet’s just say I would rather be poor than be rich from making ads that bad.
Comment by Rob Mortimer (Not a fake Andy) May 8, 2012 @ 5:33 pmThat’s funny because a girl on a Chinese television show has just said “she’d rather be crying sat in the back of a BMW than happy on the back of a bike”.
Women eh!
Comment by Rob May 8, 2012 @ 6:00 pmHow strange to want sad riches given the reason most people want to be rich is to take stress away and give them exciting opportunities.
As the saying goes, “lord please give me the chance to prove that money can’t buy happiness”…
Comment by Rob Mortimer (Not a fake Andy) May 8, 2012 @ 6:44 pmmust be one of my ex fucking parasite wives.
Comment by andy@cynic May 8, 2012 @ 9:48 pmLove that quote Rob M!
Comment by Age May 8, 2012 @ 7:12 pmThanks Age!
Rob – Have you seen the new Pepsi ad on AdContrarian, it is almost as anger inducing as this one. What the hell happened to exciting, brave, interesting Pepsi work?
Comment by Rob Mortimer (Not a fake Andy) May 8, 2012 @ 8:11 pmIn other news my ex-disruption friends have lost their biggest client, one I helped bring in. I’d love to indulge in schadenfreude but they’re fucked which means some great people working for them are fucked because the media arts loving twathead managers won’t get culled it will be the poor bastards that suffer for their lack of vision.
Comment by Northern May 9, 2012 @ 5:29 amAnd by the way this blogs requires you opt out of getting updates by email dodds it’s not quite spam but it’s still as devious as sir sorrel
I would like to point out I had nothing to do with this ‘opt in / opt out’ rubbish. I’m amazed you even bother popping by in the first place – so I’m hardly going to push my luck by blanketing you with bullshit email spam.
Or am I?
Comment by Rob May 9, 2012 @ 8:27 amAnd I’ve already emailed our First Direct AD to sell reluctantly wealthy tomorrow. Hands off
Comment by Northern May 9, 2012 @ 5:33 amRace you …
Comment by Rob May 9, 2012 @ 8:25 amComments from the filthy, unwashed masses have been disabled on that video.
Comment by kevin May 9, 2012 @ 11:20 amMaybe it’s because the bank wants people to do some hard work?
Comment by Rob May 9, 2012 @ 12:03 pm