Wells Fargo apologizes

Wells Fargo has issued an apology over social media for their ad campaign



http://www.app.com/story/entertainment/theater/2016/09/03/wells-fargo-apologizes-after-broadway-raises-voices/89813436/

Not sure if its just me but that link leads from one pop up to another. Had to close out of it twice.

NOWaWarning said: "I just don't understand how this ad made it to print. How stupid can the marketing team be?



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Exactly! Who thought that this was a good idea?!?

What do you mean? Interpretations of the advertisement?

Interpretations of what the ad's message was meant to be. Obviously if "kids shouldn't be actors" wasn't their intended message (have a feeling it wasn't), they didn't do a clear job of conveying it.

Updated On: 9/3/16 at 07:19 PM

Well my viewpoint is obviously not objective. It's just silly to me that no one thought it might piss people off.

It was stupidly conceived and even more stupidly executed, and the people responsible should be fired. Not the people who created it but the executives who signed off on it.

If you can get into their dumb heads, they thought they were sending the message that, for artistic people, anything is possible. No one in the entire corporation who signed off on that campaign thought for one brief moment that it was insulting and demeaning--and just plain bad advertising.

The idiot executives should be fired because their campaign spoiled decades of Wells Fargo's support of the arts around the country.

But worse, the ads told millions of teens involved in arts programs around the country: "You're wasting your time, you stupid kids."

For that firing is not punishment enough. A firing SQUAD would be more appropriate.

Here's their apology. Supposedly they're junking the campaign and revising it.

I may be one of the very few, rare people who didn't interpret it as disparaging to the arts. In fact, I read it as kids have different interests and will pursue different things in the course of finding themselves. I mean, that kid is clearly NOT A BOTANIST. Nor is that girl an engineer. Come on, people.

Tomorrow that girl could be a gymnast or martial artist and that boy could be a track runner or chess player. Who knows.

You might be an Olympic medalist and a management consultant. Or an Olympic competitor who is a neurosurgeon. (Two females in 2016 Rio)

You are also not just one thing, nor defined by your job.

That said, I agree with everyone that the execution was complete crap. Just utter failure.

Updated On: 9/4/16 at 12:16 AM

There are some financial connotations since Wells Fargo is a bank. There is no argument that on average being an engineer earns you more money to pay of your loans(to the bank) than being an actor.

Call_me_jorge said: "There are some financial connotations since Wells Fargo is a bank. There is no argument that on average being an engineer earns you more money to pay of your loans(to the bank) than being an actor.



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But besides the money that pays your bill, what matters is the quality of life. The idea that it depends on how much money you make gets on my nerves all the time. Like what The Color Purple is teaching us, god, if there is one, creates this not so "functional" color to bring us closer to what is really at core of life--the appreciation of it. For a lot of people, they need arts to get there, and arts have been the most common medium for that message to come across. Do we need to pay off the loans? Yes. But that should not keep us from embracing the color purple (pun intended). And, yes, you need money to pay for the tickets, but more often than not you would be surprised to see some ideas loaded people have about money that you might frown upon. Like one of my ex-friends told me she would rather pay 80 dollars for fancy meals or some pieces of clothing than TKTS a show (and I've never talked to her ever since). Some people's fascination with material or survival needs never cease to amaze me.

Updated On: 9/4/16 at 02:30 AM

dramamama611 said: "While I didn't like that both things were artists, the message I took away from it was: dreams change, be prepared.



Was it stupid? Yes. Disparaging, however, seems a bit much.



Yeah, I think the message was supposed to be something along the lines of "kids change their minds a lot." However, this would have been much more apparent if they had chosen a profession like "Superhero today; chemist tomorrow."

Very, very, very, poorly executed.

^ I think the ads meant exactly what they appear. There's a big push to get kids - particularly girls and minorities - into STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) programs. The Arts aren't seen as a good investment.