GetUp and Choice vs The Big Banks
4 November 2010 at 9:46 am
Political advocacy group GetUp has joined forces with consumer advocates CHOICE to launch a national television advertising campaign against Australian banks.
GetUp, which won a campaign to give new voters time to register in the lead up to the Federal Election, says it is stepping up its campaign against unfair banking practices by asking its 400,000 members to donate to put a new television advertisement on-air.
GetUp National Director, Simon Sheikh says every year, the big banks spend tens of millions of dollars on TV advertisements and marketing, trying to convince people that their bank is the kind and friendly one – meanwhile, they’re making billions by charging unfair penalty fees and profit padding margins on their mortgage rates.
Sheikh says GetUp wants to try to turn all that on its head, with an advertisement that exposes the hypocrisy of the big banks.
GetUp are partnering with consumer advocates Choice on this campaign, with research support from The Australia Institute. Choice has also launched its own Better Banking initiative, a six-month campaign calling on the banks to listen to the needs and concerns of their customers.
The GetUp advertisement parodies the popular ANZ “Barbara” ads, and sees a cantankerous bank manager laugh off a customer’s concern with his bank fees.
Sheikh says that for many of us, bank penalty fees are an annoyance, but for those Australian families who are already doing it tough can be hit really hard by these fees.
The campaign has so far seen over 14,000 GetUp members have signed up to a large class action lawsuit to recover penalty fees as well as pressuring the Australian Bankers’ Association.
