Wells Fargo apologizes
Wells Fargo apologizes
IlanaKeller
Leading Actor Joined: 10/14/15
#1Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 5:54pm
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/
Twitter: @IlanaKeller
Latest work: app.com/topic/asbury-park-broadway/
#2Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 6:04pm
Apology accepted...jerks.
Updated On: 9/5/16 at 06:04 PM
Huss417
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#3Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 6:17pm
Not sure if its just me but that link leads from one pop up to another. Had to close out of it twice.
"I hope your Fanny is bigger than my Peter."
Mary Martin to Ezio Pinza opening night of Fanny.
#4Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 6:25pm
I just don't understand how this ad made it to print. How stupid can the marketing team be?
hes16
Stand-by Joined: 2/6/16
#5Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 6:35pm
NOWaWarning said: "I just don't understand how this ad made it to print. How stupid can the marketing team be?
"
Exactly! Who thought that this was a good idea?!?
IlanaKeller
Leading Actor Joined: 10/14/15
#6Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 7:14pm
From what I hear (nothing official), there are a few different interpretations.
Twitter: @IlanaKeller
Latest work: app.com/topic/asbury-park-broadway/
#7Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 7:17pm
What do you mean? Interpretations of the advertisement?
#8Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 7:17pm
IlanaKeller I'm sure you're right. I doubt anyone who proofed the ad was reading it as disparaging to actors. Which just makes it all the stupider in my opinion.
Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated
IlanaKeller
Leading Actor Joined: 10/14/15
#9Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 7:19pm
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.
Twitter: @IlanaKeller
Latest work: app.com/topic/asbury-park-broadway/
Updated On: 9/3/16 at 07:19 PM
IlanaKeller
Leading Actor Joined: 10/14/15
#10Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 7:20pm
Mr. Nowack said: "IlanaKeller I'm sure you're right. I doubt anyone who proofed the ad was reading it as disparaging to actors."
Exactly
Twitter: @IlanaKeller
Latest work: app.com/topic/asbury-park-broadway/
#11Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 10:30pm
Well my viewpoint is obviously not objective. It's just silly to me that no one thought it might piss people off.
#12Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 10:30pm
A double post. How fun.
Updated On: 9/4/16 at 10:30 PM
#13Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 11:08pm
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.
FlySkyHigh
Understudy Joined: 4/17/16
#14Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/3/16 at 11:29pm
My interpretation of the ad didn't make me think they were shaming students from going into arts but more so sending the message that a career in the arts is transient; that it won't last and/or there is no job security. I think they were encouraging students to have a backup plan. HOWEVER, the delivery of the message is still very insulting and could have (whether purposely or mistakenly) discouraged people from following their dreams. Pursuing the arts has always been a high risk, high reward atmosphere but if that's what someone really wants to do, they owe it to themselves to at least try. And while it is smart to have a back up plan, Wells Fargo was so unbelievably stupid to suggest completely unrelated careers in completely unrelated fields. Many former dancers and actors go on to find even more success within the same field from teaching to directing to marketing to producing. I agree that whatever executives signed off on this need a swift kick in the butt.
mpkie
Broadway Star Joined: 6/21/15
#15Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/4/16 at 12:16am
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.
#16Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/4/16 at 12:19am
Mr. Nowack said: "IlanaKeller I'm sure you're right. I doubt anyone who proofed the ad was reading it as disparaging to actors. Which just makes it all the stupider in my opinion. "
As someone who spent nearly four years as a copy editor/proofreader at an ad agency, once it gets to that stage (our desk), even if we think an ad is dumb, there's nothing we can do to stop it.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#17Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/4/16 at 12:29am
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.
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
https://theaterworkersforaceasefire.com/statement
#18Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/4/16 at 12:30am
But it was a stupid ad
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
https://theaterworkersforaceasefire.com/statement
#19Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/4/16 at 1:41am
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.
"
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.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#20Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/4/16 at 1:59am
A Wells Fargo banker today. A depressed suicidal chain-smoking alcoholic gambling addict tomorrow.
If only he had followed his dream of being an artist.
RockyRoad
Leading Actor Joined: 9/4/04
#21Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/4/16 at 2:30am
Anyone who thinks this is a sincere apology needs to get a grip on reality. This "apology" spends more time talking about what a "good" and "caring" business Wells Fargo is than actually apologizing.
And then, in case you missed how good they are, they tell you about the millions they give away, you know, just to show you how sorry they really are.
Having been in marketing for 20+ years, I've seen it all. I can't imagine how stupid Wells Fargo is to let such a negative campaign happen. I have seen major million dollar campaigns pulled at the last minute because of stuff lesser than this.
Wells Fargo deserves all the negativity it has and will continue to receive.
Updated On: 9/4/16 at 02:30 AM
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#22Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/4/16 at 6:02am
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.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#23Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/4/16 at 8:26am
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.
#24Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/4/16 at 12:47pm
That wasn't an apology, it was a response.
Anyway you slice it that ad was an epic fail.
jbird5
Broadway Star Joined: 12/20/15
#25Wells Fargo apologizes
Posted: 9/4/16 at 1:23pm
^ 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.
