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January 27, 2018 10:19 AM   Subscribe

The new advert from the HSBC UK bank stars Richard Ayoade, features Nimrod by Elgar, and "contains products and brands that have become integral staples of British culture and lifestyle". Devised by J. Walter Thompson, "the 60-second spot positions the affable Ayoade as its Global Citizen." The ad is "entirely free from misguided jingoism", does not mention the B word and any comparisons to contemporary UK political trauma are totally and completely coincidental.
posted by Wordshore (13 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
HSBC rap sheet
posted by furtive at 10:27 AM on January 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


It's a lovely ad, but I'm afraid my first thought was also the same as furtive's.

So let's hop over to the country which has most in common with the UK and see what they say about HSBC. Oh, “a bank with a great history and a sulphurous present”, “ongoing enquiries into an empire outside the law” and that documentary (no translation needed) «Les Gangsters de la Finance».
posted by ambrosen at 10:41 AM on January 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


the country which has most in common with the UK

Millions of French people just shuddered without knowing why.
posted by Segundus at 10:53 AM on January 27, 2018 [18 favorites]


Theresa May Arrives in Davos as U.K.’s Post-‘Brexit’ Slide Continues

If I wasn't so depressed about the world in generals slide into chaos and decay I'd be really gloomy about the UK extinguishing itself as anything relevant.
posted by Artw at 11:23 AM on January 27, 2018 [1 favorite]




Theresa May suggests UK health services could be part of US trade deal

Well, I guess that’s one way to make US healthcare compare more favorably to other nations...let US corporations invade in order to drag other nations down to our level.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:50 PM on January 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


I love Richard Ayoade's Travel Man show , for all it's faults. It's basically this but longer.
posted by onya at 1:24 PM on January 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


It’s a nice sentiment from a questionable ethical bank (by the standards of banks) that amounts to puffing up a country for values that it just had a vote on not holding during the run up to the countries extinction as a result of that vote, so ehhhh....
posted by Artw at 2:13 PM on January 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


As ever, I'm disappointed when someone I like hawks themselves to a bank. He can do what he likes, I guess. It doesn't seem like Richard Ayoade's act has any kind of political intent, so he's not destroying his credibility in that sense. It's a bit like when a friend who is otherwise perfectly reasonable and good-intentioned reveals she's bought a buy-to-let. Mildly sordid, mildly depressing.
posted by cincinnatus c at 4:33 PM on January 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


Danny Boyle did it better, but he did have an entire Olympics opening ceremony with which to do it.
posted by danhon at 11:51 PM on January 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Mod note: A few deleted. For those who'd prefer to get into a nittygritty discussion on the ethics of HSBC banking practices, I'd say go ahead and make a post about that – or to talk about Metafilter discussion issues, a metatalk post would be the way to go.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:13 AM on January 28, 2018 [1 favorite]


The final scene clearly crams in as many things that they didn't find the means to put in elsewhere: I see Kiwi fruit, Turkish delights, Swiss roll, a French horn, a Chinese lantern, an African Grey parrot, Russian nesting dolls, a picture of a Canada goose...
posted by avapoet at 2:00 PM on January 28, 2018 [2 favorites]




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