Check The Meaning* – First Direct’s Advertising Gaffe
The latest TV advertisement for First Direct banking really doesn’t cast the bank, or their staff in a good light. It’s most annoying. Here’s why….
Before I open my mouth or commit words to a page (in which I also include posting those words online), I make sure – as a rule – that I know what I’m talking about. After all, no-one likes to be descended on and criticised without mercy, and I’m no exception.
If I’m going to use a phrase, in any context, I make sure I know what it means, in case I’m saying something that conveys a meaning entirely different from the one I want to express. Sure, I do make the occasional mistake, as those who turned up to my Whisperin’ and Hollerin’ review of the latest Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern single, armed with pick axes and shovels to demolish my work will confirm. I digress, but the point is, even when writing my short reviews, produced in relative haste, I do make every effort to do my research and to use words and phrases correctly.
For this reason, I find the latest advert for First Direct, a division of HSBC, irritating beyond belief.
See the advertisment here:
http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Real-People-Chatting-First-Direct-Banking/87061
You heard the girl right. While in her job at the call centre, where she’s happy and loving her work rather than wanting to murder her colleagues before slitting her own wrists, she tells her customer pleasantly and conversationally, “I’m like a fish out of water, me.”
Ok, so it’s supposed to be a reference to the whale habits that are a feature of the first scene, and a way of showing that First Direct is different, that it employs UK-based staff who are quirky, friendly and chatty, rather than characterless drones who rely on scripts as they sit in their offshore sweatshop call-centres. But that’s not actually what she’s saying. “A fish out of water” is not a person who’s “a bit different,” but a person in an alien environment, someone who’s struggling, out of their depth and doesn’t know what they’re doing.
She follows this remark with “We’re all like that here.” Wow. So First Direct employ whole offices full of staff who haven’t a fucking clue – and talk complete and utter bollocks to boot. It doesn’t exactly instill confidence, does it? Imagine the scenario: you ring up and ask for you balance. The person at the other end of the phone tells you you’re a thousand pounds in credit. Great! But what they actually mean is that you’re a grand overdrawn. And so on.
It pains me that this didn’t occur to whoever came up with the concept for the ad, or those who wrote the script. It similarly pains me that at no point in the process did an agency exec or anyone from First Direct’s marketing department spot this. It pains me, because, despite what Darren Hayman’s fans, in a lather about the supposed fact that my reviews are ‘Just really badly written and without any real grasp of grammar, spelling or what the album is about,’ may say, I know that if I was in advertising, I would have spotted it. I would have pointed it out (and probably have been slammed down by my manager, who’s a semi-literate cock-end but has a better haircut and more expensive suit). So what can we learn from this? Answers on a comment, please…..
* I think Richard Ashcroft is rubbish, boring and self-indulgent, but I thought the title appropriate, and in using this reference, figured it might demonstrate my point about doing my research, whether it’s within my field or not.
Couldn’t agree more about the stupid HSBC advert. It is annoying beyond belief. The thing about the whales was completely lost on me!!!
I’m not surprised – a whale isn’t even a fish for starters!
First time I saw the ad I had to rush to the internet to check that my understanding of the phrase was correct, and that there wasn’t some sort of modern re-interpretation of it! I simply couldn’t believe that such a ludicrous cock up could be made – surely *someone* noticed it?
My initial respense wasn’t too dissimilar, and I feared I had misunderstood the phrase all these years… but no. Some bozo in the ad world has got it wrong, and either no-one noticed, or thought to mention it, or otherwise got slammed down by ther manager during the meeting it was discussed and simply had to let it go. Either way, it’s grim.
It is so irritating does First Direct really not realise that what the woman is saying is “I don’t fit in this job and nor do my colleagues” And does talking in class qualify you for internet banking in which case I missed my calling!
Well apparently if talking in class subsequently leads you to talk absolute nonsense as an adult, then seemingly, yes, that’s precisely the skill-set you need to work in a call centre for an Internet and tele-banking service. And there we had the last government trying to push everyone to take degree courses!
The numpties seem to have got the message and are now using a different ad. Unbelievable.
Not before time! That said, in the new advertisement, rather than putting the caller’s mind at ease, her closing comment could be interpreted as being “shut up and go back to sleep” in a “who rattled your cage?” sort of a way. Rubbish!