A Bank Advertises its Credit Cards in France

There is no quicker way to highlight cross-cultural differences than to view advertisements abroad. The advertising column in the New York Times by Elaine Sciolino recently reviewed an advertising campaign by Egg Banking, an online banking service based in the U.K., that was marketing its credit card in France. The unique feature of this bank's online card is that cardholders receive a rebate of one percent on all purchases made with the card.

However, since we generally believe that you can't make money by spending money, this offer seems at first to be too good to be true. To counter this generally held misconception, the advertising firm mounted a series of humorous advertisements highlighting other common misconceptions. For example, an advertisement in a magazine showed a brunette and a blond sitting on a bench at an art exhibition. The brunette was intently studying a painting. But, the blonde's attention was focused on an exit sign. The caption: "Blondes have more fun." The humor was lost on the leader of one of the feminist groups who objected to the advertisement on the ground that it "drew a connection between the color of one's hair and stupidity." Another television ad showed a group of dwarfs eating soup. The legend: "Eat your soup and you will grow." This ad drew sharp criticism from the Association of People of Small Size. Several of the advertisements cited are not appropriate for a family web newsletter.