Shocking ad: Bank tries to stop kids going into the arts

Shocking ad: Bank tries to stop kids going into the arts

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norman lebrecht

September 03, 2016

This is the shocking new Wells Fargo ad.

wells fargo

There is another on the same theme: A ballerina yesterday, an engineer today.

The bank is trying to reinforce a stereotype that the arts are a waste of life, not to mention crushing the dreams of young customers.

 

 

Comments

  • Maria says:

    I don’t know which is worse, the attitude to the arts, or the fact that advertising people, who presumably know their target audience, expect this campaign to work.

    I hope they’re wrong and it backfires spectacularly.

  • Gary says:

    If you train as a musician, you can play in an orchestra, in an ensemble or on your own. You can do functions or sessions or form a band. You might arrange or compose. If you’re out of playing work, you might teach or you could busk. If you train as an engineer, say, and you’re out of work? Well you could try busking with a slide rule…

  • Gary says:

    “I think we should at all times keep trying to ask and to answer the most basic of questions about music, about the arts. What are they there for?
    For me they’re not there for any other reason than to remind us that, no matter where we are, whether we’re learned, in prison, poor, successful, alone or average, our material circumstances are not all that we have, that we can see beyond ourselves, that we’re human and are therefore dignified.”
    Armando Iannucci in The Guardian – 14th May 2006

  • Chris says:

    Probably a coincidence but who knows….Jon Campbell is Vice President and Director of Government and Community Relations for Wells Fargo Bank. He was also chair of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Board of Directors during their long lockout.

  • Blu Loony says:

    Wells Fargo needs some new horses to pull the aging stagecoach. My story might cause the stagecoach to lose a wheel.

    Believe. WFHurtMe.com

    Give up some of your profits Wells Fargo and hire quality people who understand our youth. This is still free publicity for Wells Fargo. Fix the ad campaign and then they’ll get more free advertising on the news saying sorry.

  • Ravi Narasimhan says:

    Good luck to any scientist or engineer who can’t think abstractly or communicate with others.

  • Melisande says:

    https://twitter.com/WellsFargo

    See their apology of an hour ago! Too late?

  • Beth J says:

    This professional musician despises the BANKSTERS represented by this propaganda, shilling for corporate pirates and their insufferable, typical Rethuglican arrogance.

    So what if I don’t make millions with dirty deals? I can pay all my bills and have a fulfilling LIFE, thanks to an unlearnable talent I was fortunate enough to be blessed with. Its beauty touches people & improves the world in ways these slaves to crass commercial interests can only DREAM of.

    Hence their hatred of truly creative human beings.

    On his death-bed, my father didn’t tell me to “Go get a bank job.”
    His last words to me were, “Keep up your talent.”

  • Beth J says:

    This professional musician despises the BANKSTERS represented by this propaganda, shilling for corporate pirates and their insufferable, typical Rethuglican arrogance.

    So what if I don’t make millions with dirty deals? I can pay all my bills and have a fulfilling LIFE, thanks to an unlearnable talent I was fortunate enough to be blessed with. Its beauty touches people & improves the world in ways these slaves to crass commercial interests can only DREAM of.

    Hence their hatred of truly creative human beings.

    On his death-bed, my father didn’t tell me to “Go get a bank job.”
    His last words to me were, “Keep up your talent.”

  • Alvaro says:

    Well, certainly the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS, IF NOT MILLIONS of people around the world struggling to pay rent, to give their kids basic needs, to earn a retirement, or make any savings MIGHT agree with the bank’s statements, wouldnt they?

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