“Creepy” Ben Franklin Prompts Bank Change
“Creepy” Ben Franklin Prompts Bank Change; “Don't You Want Me” stuck in head for days, woman reports
The current SunTrust Bank commercial, featuring an actor dressed like Benjamin Franklin on a $100 bill singing the 1980s Human League song “Don't You Want Me,” has prompted at least one customer to switch banks.
“I simply can't have any confidence having my money in a bank whose management thinks that commercial is a good idea,” says Suzanne Simmons, a human resources employee at a local publishing company.
“That guy playing Ben Franklin is just creepy. It's like he wants to take advantage of the darkness of your purse to molest your other currency.”
The lecherous-looking Franklin's spastic gyrations do nothing to add to the appeal of the spot, she adds.
Simmons says the last straw came when she was unable to get “Don't You Want Me” out of her head for three days after having seen the commercial while watching CSI Miami.
“I was in high school when that song came out, and even then I avoided it because it could get stuck in your head for days. But having that combined with that creepy Franklin guy was too much. I moved my checking and savings to AmSouth.”
“Don't You Want Me,” a catchy and bouncy breakup song in which a man and woman singer offer their conflicting opinions about a recently concluded affair, seems on the face of it to be a curious choice for a financial institution.
“I don't get it,” says a local advertising executive. “Maybe just the fact that we're talking about it makes it a success, but, I mean, what's next?”
The answer to that question came in a call to SunTrust's advertising agency, where a source requesting anonymity says the Franklin ad was just the first of a series featuring currency characters coming to life to sing and dance.
“Wait 'til you see our ad selling kitchen remodeling loans while Andrew Jackson sings [Duran Duran's] 'Hungry Like the Wolf,' ” the source says, adding, “It's a knockout!”
(The Fabricator is satire. Don't believe everything you read.)
“Wait 'til you see our ad selling kitchen remodeling loans while Andrew Jackson sings [Duran Duran's] 'Hungry Like the Wolf,' ” the source says, adding, “It's a knockout!”
(The Fabricator is satire. Don't believe everything you read.)
