Dopers in the tri-state (NY, NJ, PN) area may have seen this TV commercial of late, in which Chase Bank informs us they’ve got more convenient locations to serve us in said tristate area than ever before. The problem is that the ad’s CG graphics exploit the 9-11 WTC tragedy and its temporary memorial, the “Tribute in Light,” to tweak their image as the New Yorker’s best banking choice. You see, in the commercial’s swooping CG movements over the region, each Chase location is positively aglow, bathed in a lovely blue light emanating from their corporate logo, and the light extends upwards in a focused spotlight-like column, just as in the Tribute in Light.
I’m not imagining this or exaggerating in the slightest; this is a bold steal of the Tribute image. There’s nothing iffy or subtle about it.
And on top of that it’s all to the tune of one of the best songs of the '70’s, “Shining Star” by Earth, Wind & Fire.
Those shameless, soulless, cynical, glib corpse-fuckers. How dare they exploit WTC memorial imagery for their mercenary purposes, and how dare they taint a great song by association. May the advertising geniuses and Chase executives responsible for this imagery end up in a Dante-esque ring of Hell, in which devils and imps drive red-hot pitchforks up their backsides… to an endless loop of “Reasons,” of course.
Apologies to Dopers, and esp. those outside the region for the lack of illustrative links. FWIW, a casual search in Google Images failed to turn up a screenshot from the ad, but that might change over the days or weeks to come. It might turn up on YouTube someday.
I haven’t seen the ad, but now I will be on the lookout for it.
I do have to mention though, as a fellow Greater New York area person, that just about everyone I encountered around the time of the initial launch of the Tribute In Light thought it was about the goofiest thing they had ever seen. Are we trying to send the bat signal? Are they opening a new Costco? (and the Costco comment was from a person who had been in the WTC, if memory serves). Granted, it is possible that I associate with an unusually low group of people, but the mocking was pretty widespread.
So, I can’t get too riled about Chase exploiting an image that I previously associated with people making fun of it. Good call on the Earth, Wind & Fire, though.
No way. It’s all about context; this is a NYC-area commercial, with the “camera” angle (pure CGI, actually) swooping up and down, left and right, and all over the NYC area, very fast, showing off all the locations of the Chase banks – seemingly hundreds of them, so that the New York metro area is festooned with brilliant blue light shafts piercing the nighttime skies. Although the Luxor has a permanent bright beam crowning its pyramid, there’s nothing in this ad directly invoking anything outside the NY area or the banking industry – however much the imagery evokes the WTC Tribute.
Chase Bank aside, these commercials are a big business in their own right. As a general rule of thumb, there is no detail in a corporate logo, image, overall branding, product packaging, or advertising that is not very carefully thought out and developed, and there are no dumb or accidental coincidences or connotations associated with such imagery. These days, virtually no product, service, or advertising campaign is developed without the involvement of legions of marketing, corporate branding, advertising, and even psychology experts, or gets a well-funded launch without first passing focus group tests. (This implies that the Chase commercial must have passed such tests, which is really depressing. Perhaps the most negative comments were of the “meh” and “it may be derivative, but people need to get over it” variety.)
I believe the ad was carefully and deliberately crafted to promote the subtextual understanding that Chase Bank is a beneficient institution and is particularly emblematic of New York, just as images of the WTC/Tribute in Light are, and to get the viewer/consumer to transfer some of the warm & fuzzy emotions related to the WTC/Tribute to Chase Bank. And for that, they are despicable.
He means PA, as you may or may not in fact already realize. New Jerseyans seem to often (erroneously, but understandably) think those three make up the tri-state (as, naturally, the NYC/Philadelphia sandwich with Jersey filling).
Best I could do, using this terrific crime state comparison calculator ( bow our heads, God Bless The Internet, Amen ) was Camden NJ v.s. Hartford, CT.
I grew up in Philly, so Tri-State meant PA-NJ-DEL.
In terms of commuting, despite how many Pennsylvanians DO commute to NYC every day, it is fair to say that NY/NJ/CT is the Tri State area for influx to NYC on a daily basis.
relentless whoring of sacred images for commercial gain.
