JP Morgan has an ad campaign called “The Way Forward”.

Marketplace covered it, wondering, “what the heck are they doing?”

PR Watch wrote a short blurb on it after having seen the ad in NYTimes toaday.

This is JP Morgan’s site.

Send in ads if you got them — we’ll post them here.

JP Morgan Ramps Up Greedwashing

Today’s New York Times features a pricey, full-page ad by JP Morgan Chase on a new charitable project. “We believe it’s important to listen to our customers and communities. That’s why we created Community Giving and let the Facebook community vote on which local charities will receive $5 million in grants from Chase,” the ad proclaims. JP Morgan Chase is one of the largest banks in America and played a critical role in the 2008 financial crisis. It received $25 billion in bailout funds in 2008 enabling the company to get back on its feet and pay eye-popping bonuses to top executives in 2009. Five million is a small fraction of the $17 billion the firm payed Jamie Dimon its CEO in stock bonuses in 2009. Amusingly, the ad capitalizes on the phrase “A New Way Forward for Giving” echoing the theme of the net-roots bank reform group A New Way Forward, who has been leading an internet campaign to get consumers to “break up” with the big banks like JP Morgan and start accounts at small, local community banks. Stay tuned for many more “greedwashing” campaigns like this as the big banks try to convince the American public that their practices are changing even while they spend millions lobbying against financial reform, continue to raise bank fees and aggressively foreclose on American families.

i think our job of having a political system that worked would be easier if i could trust that most people see through these fake campaigns. Sometimes, it seems like people will be convinced by fake measures, but polls show that often times people do see through fakeness.

The situation the banks have set up are: 1. we set arbitrary rules so we can fleece you as much as we want 2. we change regulatory rules so we can continue fleecing and take on more risky activities that make us a lot of money in the meantime 3. and then when we fail, we won’t own up to it and pretend we’re really good for society. This situation is exactly like when a bully sets arbitrary rules for a game that make it so there is no way you can win, and calls it fair, gets the girl/boy, and then burns down your house and the insurance company doesn’t pay you for it.