Barclays criticised for advert that shows transgender woman receiving financial advice so she can fund surgery to give her 'big t***'

[ScreamingMeMe]

Barclays criticised for advert that shows transgender woman receiving financial advice so she can fund surgery to give her 'big t*'

By Sam Merriman For The Mail On Sunday

02:01, 04 Sep 2022 , updated 02:01, 04 Sep 2022

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11177491/Barclays-ad-shows-transgender-woman-receiving-financial-advice-fund-big-t.html

The bank has teamed up with Channel 4 for a series of 'authentic' TV adverts

Luna, a 30-year-old transgender woman, wants advice on saving for surgery

She details how she is transitioning from male to female but her goal is surgery

I was going to post something pithy in reply to this about paying for a small one, but you actually raise a really good point.

The surgery to create a “penis” (it’s not a penis), is brutal: we’ve all seen the photos of huge scars on forearms, thighs etc to produce something that in no way resembles or functions like an actual penis. Why does it need to be so big? Why aren’t surgeons taking a modest approach and saying that they can produce something more sensible with half the amount of scarring or tissue requirements? There’s even a joke about it on Curb Your Enthusiasm with Chaz Bono knocking things over with a new appendage. What drives the requirement for females to get something “big”? Is it because the males want everything to be “big” too, like tits? Is this another example of male fantasies misleading young females into what is considered successful transition?

How to alienate a substantial percentage of the population in one fowl swoop. I’d never bank with them ..

Yep. We can’t say women have periods but we can say women have big t**s.

Big t**s is the language of porn, teen boys and page three. We’ve spent 40 years trying to move away from it. It’s not language you could use in a corporate environment. But again as soon as it’s the t, rules go out t window.

I hope Barclays are so sympathetic to me when I ask them to extend my overdraft to pay the bills. My tits are big enough though.

Man wanting big tits. Not a fetish 🤮

The fact that Barclays have absolutely no fucking idea is slightly worrying in a bank. It's not exactly the finger on the pulse impression you want in someone in control of your finances.

The fact that Barclays have absolutely no fucking idea is slightly worrying in a bank.

There was quite an interesting discussion in one of the "AntiSocial" episodes on Radio 4. That the people in advertising departments are often young and clueless and are unaware that most customers are not exactly like them.

Anyway I have complained to the ASA, on the grounds that this advert is promoting both breast surgery and physical transition to vulnerable young people as something that makes people happy with no mention of the physical downsides.

I was passing a body shop (nah don’t shop there) and they had a message board saying something like ‘more than x % of the world population of under 25 but x% of politicians/leaders are over 60(?)’ somesuch.

so they want 25 year olds to run the world? Survey seem to have forgotten that everyone 26+ was previously under 25… and gained experience and education since then.

i don’t blame the pope sods in marketing - I blame external agencies (have worked with/for both and it’s the ‘funky agencies’ that come up with these lines’).

Remember when "investing in yourself" was improving your knowledge or skills?

God that is grim.

Wonder what the Quaker founders of Barclays would make of this. Pity I've already left them - forget what the issue was - South Africa?

Have they brought in Al Bundy as head of PR?

If they genuinely want "authenticity" and must highlight the issue of saving for plastic surgery, why not a middle-aged woman saving up for breast reduction surgery to mitigate her back pain as she's working on her feet all day as a nurse, server, supermarket check-out worker, etc.?

Remember the Twitter storm McCain and tedious drag bloke "Bagachipz" got for suggesting women were a big pair of tits?

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4578382-another-go-woke-go-broke-mccains

"When many are facing a financial crisis already with worse to come this is just offensive."

How is deciding to save for something you want offensive?

I presume you are going to spend the next few months under a rock, not going out, never buying anything nice because it's offensive to do so in a recession?

Remember when people were allowed to do nice things that made them happy without being judged by busy bodies? I have such fond memories of those days too.

I don't think a "substantial percentage of the population" will care that a trans woman is saving to have surgery. It's her body and her choice after all. No one else's really.

"It's important to have these real life stories of genuine hardship and challenges."

So true, the only people who ever go on the tele to talk about things they want in life are trans people 😡

No cisgender person would ever dream of doing such an immoral thing.

Barclays Bank: We propped up the Apartheid regime, and still continue to support outrageous tits to this day!

😀

Yes, people saving to do what they want with their bodies is really like apartheid. I would suggest you read Mandela's autobiography, that might teach you something about the nature of racism in South Africa.

Dear lord, humour not your strong point, @Hearach15 ?

Thanks for the lecture on Mandela. I have indeed read the excellent Long Walk to Freedom. And as a non white person, I am well versed on racism, thank you. Presumably, you are aware of Barclays Bank's role in propping up the Apartheid regime? Perhaps you are aware of the Palestinian campaign against their current activities? Do you think they are rehabilitated now? Or just jumping on any old "progressive" bandwagon to clean up their image?

In that case, you’d better tell the advertising company they wasted all their money on this campaign.

The whole point of this type of ad is aspiration. We are shown something we want, or didn’t realise we wanted until it was shown to us in a particular way. It may be a cold bottle of Coke. In banking terms that aspiration is often the dream of owning your own home, own car etc. The ads are targeted at people who think share that aspiration to say “ come and realise that aspiration with us, we can help you get there.”

In this ad, we are being shown the aspiration of cosmetic surgery. There are two possibilities:

1. The ad company, possibly after market research, see a target market who share this aspiration and are saying “come and realise that aspiration with us.” Or
2. @Hearach15 is correct and no one cares about the fact this is someone saving for cosmetic surgery and the ad company wasted their money and time showing an aspiration no one wants.

I hope it is 2). Because if it’s 1) the ad company are doing what ad companies do and targeting a particular audience with such aspiration, which will include young people.

Dear lord, humour not your strong point

I think we can safely acknowledge that.

Aside from this being a transitioned male declaring to the world what their interpretation of what a 'woman' is = 'big tits', Barclays is certainly not coming across as progressive here.

As a marketing campaign, this should never have been signed off. Reinforcing the objectification of women in this way is in no way the message that many women will accept from their bank once they process the message.

It most definitely is a marketing fail here. It is not going to signal to any female that their custom is respected.

"In that case, you’d better tell the advertising company they wasted all their money on this campaign."

They didn't. The campaign got a lot of publicity that it would never have had otherwise.