I just heard on TV that Bankone is being criticized for their promotion on the campus of the University of Louisville. If a student signed up for a Bankone credit card, they got a free t-shirt listing "ten reasons why a beer is better than a black man". It shows a black woman holding a beer, and a black man in the background. Among the reasons listed: a beer will not yell at your kids, and a beer will not get you pregnant. I am not sure if Bankone was trying to offend black people, women, or everyone. Of interest, they paid the university $1.9 million to be the exclusive provider on campus of credit cards. One more reason to hate Bankone.
If the University of Louisville condones this behavior, it's a very good reason to hate the school as well.
What station did you see this story on? Was it local or national like CNN? If the national news isn't aware of this story (I doubt it, but anything's possible...), let's make them aware. Anything that can make Bankone look bad is good news to Creditnetters. I can't believe they'd try something like that! Are we going back in time?
Re: devil's advocate here Ok - aside from the race-specific portion of that shirt... what if it just said "why a beer is better than a man" are we offended because of the race thing - although you DID say it was a black woman holding the beer... so that really can't be any more racist if it showed 2 white people.... or is the offense within the concept itself??
Re: devil's advocate here It was on Dave Ramsey yesterday. He was reading a news report. I think it is racist because it specifically said "10 reasons why a beer is better than a black man".
Re: devil's advocate here As far as I'm concerned, I'd think it'd be more offensive if it was a white woman holding the beer. I think they were targeting a specific audience for those t-shirts. I don't think they were expecting "older people" to wear them anyway. So I won't go as far as saying it's racist, but I'd say it's in bad taste. Again.. just my opinion.
T-Shirt Mineeapolis Star Tribune... http://www.startribune.com/stories/1451/3623128.html LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The University of Louisville banned credit card solicitors after students were offered racially offensive and sexually explicit T-shirts during an on-campus promotion. The shirts were given away last week to students who applied for a credit card backed by Bank One. A caricature of a voluptuous black woman, a Bank One logo and ``10 Reasons Why Beer is Better than a Black Man'' appeared on the shirts. The reasons included ``A beer can't get you pregnant,'' and ``A beer doesn't yell at your kids.'' Others were sexually explicit. ``Bank One is outraged that such a thing could happen,'' said Nancy Norris, a spokeswoman for the Chicago-based bank. ``That offensive T-shirt was not approved by Bank One.'' On Monday, Bank One fired FrontLine Event Marketing, the Philadelphia-based firm handling the promotion. Norris said Bank One is considering taking legal action because the T-shirts depicted the bank's logo without permission. FrontLine president Ed Solomon said the shirts were not produced by his company, and believes they came from the two unauthorized workers who were hired by an independent contractor. ``We just have found this incident to be totally offensive and we are outraged by it,'' Solomon said. Bank One was the only credit card vendor allowed on the Louisville campus. The university's five-year, $1.9 million agreement expires Friday and university officials planned to stop on-campus solicitation in their next contract. University President Jim Ramsey announced the ban last Friday, a day after two promotions workers were escorted off campus. Officials did not see the T-shirts until a confrontation between the workers and students offended by the shirts. ``I would like to add my own personal apologies to the students, faculty and staff who were appropriately offended by this deplorable incident,'' Ramsey said in an e-mail.
Re: T-Shirt You could have replaced the phrase 'black man' with anything else, such as; politician, hillbilly, auditor, ect., and nobody would have cared. Relax, it's just a little tasteless humor, not the ebola virus.
Re: T-Shirt I DON'T DRINK BEER!!! Beer and college seem to go together... I'M LOOKING FOR A "BEER FREE" COLLEGE for my youngest to go to...IT'S NOT EASY!!!
Re: T-Shirt In my humble opinion, what the banks are doing by offering credit cards to students in their impressionable years in college is nothing less than preditatory lending. They are offering a credit line to a student who will in almost all cases max out the card and leave school with a load of debt. I have heard many stories on this board and others of people who have had to do BK7 because of the credit card debt they ran up in school. A BK7 at age 24! The banks should be ashamed of themselves. My Op-ed piece of the day! NV Bone Doc Member of the 650 club True health comes from within
Re: T-Shirt Well, yesterday CNN ran a story that Bank One is denying knowing about the shirts, and it was the fault of the marketing firm they hired.
Re: T-Shirt I think I buy the explaination that Bank one knew nothing about the t-shirts. I think that's fairly plausible
Re: T-Shirt George, Try RMWC in Virginia, not 100% beer free, but very tightly controlled, and your daughter will receive an excellent education. A very high number of their graduates go on to graduate school, and excellent careers.
