January 3, 2001

5:29 PM

Visa in Financial Trouble... Can't buy a clue
This takes the cake. Visa is announcing a new Animated Logo with a press release. This animated logo (with sound!) will be played when ever someone makes a wireless purchase with their visa, alerting everyone within earshot of what you are doing. In addition to the animated logo they are staking claim to the newest buzz word to make executives sound stupid: U-commerce.
[via camworld]
posted by DragonBoy (16 comments total)

This hurts my head just thinking about it. To think... somebody at the top must've thought this was a good idea.

feh!
posted by ratbastard at 6:20 PM on January 3, 2001

You know, I at least expected the logo to use blinking text, alpha fade ins, and rotate itself five times. The nerve.
posted by hijinx at 6:27 PM on January 3, 2001

This merely proves (in the event that anyone needed additional proof) that executives are soulless monsters that need to be chained to large pieces of industrial equipment and lashed mercilessly.

Come now, wouldn't you leap at the chance to brutalize an exec of your choice? Of course you would . . . . it's the New Opiate of the Masses!
posted by aramaic at 6:27 PM on January 3, 2001

We're running out of vowels. . . quick, somebody think of good uses for a- and o- and trademark them.
posted by rodii at 6:30 PM on January 3, 2001

This is a great example of unnecessary use of Flash.
posted by Zool at 6:47 PM on January 3, 2001

At least we're living in a time when such egregious stupidity is getting punished in public. Even just a year ago plenty of people (myself included) though no one else thought that the culture of eShopNowBargain4U.com was unbearably dumb. Now we get to find out everyone else also knew.
posted by argybarg at 7:40 PM on January 3, 2001

Wow, that was nut-punchingly bad.
posted by solistrato at 8:27 PM on January 3, 2001

You know, Visa... you guys could, oh I don't know, come out with one-time-use credit card numbers or something useful instead of an annoying little animation...
posted by kindall at 9:12 PM on January 3, 2001

Well I personally feel rather better about using a Visa (tm) product to make my purchases, now that they've actually set up this new comfortingly ostentatious logo that sounds like a movie is about to start or something.

I'm cutting up all my credit or debit or call-it-whatever-we're-still-spending-you're-$$-faster or whatever cards and just using Visa now!

U-commerce clearly stands for Up Yours! Or Up Mine! (Or whatever they're thinking!)

I can't keep this sarcasm up. I'm with solistrato; the concept is brutal and pointless, pointless.
posted by chicobangs at 9:19 PM on January 3, 2001

It also will signal to the user that they can expect the same high level of convenience and security that a Visa product provides in the physical world.

Oh, you mean this high level of security in the physical world?
posted by Markb at 1:00 AM on January 4, 2001

Flashturbation aside, I was really impressed by the whole "u-commerce" spiel. It really takes something special to launch an ad campaign around a new product when lets you do . . . nothing you couldn't do before.
posted by adamsc at 2:13 AM on January 4, 2001

The logo plays "a unique sound"? I suppose they have in mind the sense of "unique" that means "reproduced on countless sound effect CDs" or "as fondly remembered from the Yamaha DX7."
posted by redfoxtail at 5:41 AM on January 4, 2001

Jesus Three-Toed Christ. That was ghastly. Although the possible followup applications for the sound effects certainly are mind-candy.

"CONGRATULATIONS! You have just made a successful purchase with your VISA! Please enjoy your PORNOGRAPHY! Your account has been charged $49.95! Soon you will be MASTURBATING!"
posted by Skot at 8:45 AM on January 4, 2001

It's so bad, we can't stop talking about it, which practically guarantees its success.
posted by ratbastard at 9:05 AM on January 4, 2001

We're running out of vowels. . . quick, somebody think of good uses for a- and o- and trademark them

A would obviously be Assinine... O... hmmm...
posted by tj at 12:25 PM on January 4, 2001

Screw those stupid logos and u-commerce crap. What I really need from Visa is a lower interest rate!

Oh wait, that I have to ask my bank for.

Suckers anyway.
posted by betobeto at 4:09 PM on January 4, 2001