Wells Fargo

Way back when I was in the advertising business, I probably would have been excited to have a client who wanted to do something innovative, something like transit ads on buses in a town that's very hard to penetrate in terms of media. When you work in an ad agency, you develop real enthusiasm for the clients you support, and to some extent, you become a cheerleader for their brand.

So while I understand the desire on the part of Wells Fargo to celebrate its acquisition of Wachovia by wrapping Chapel Hill buses with their logo, there's something about the move this week that is both offensive and tone deaf.

The takeover of Wachovia by Wells Fargo is a classic deal designed to deliver operating synergies and market share. That's a euphemism for cutting costs by laying off people, while gaining a foothold in a new territory. The only beneficiaries are Wachovia shareholders. Not Wachovia customers or employees, and certainly not the community at large.

Not a single person I know wants Wells Fargo in Chapel Hill. Not a single person I know wants to see the Wells Fargo brand parading up and down Chapel Hill streets.

I saw my first "wrapped" bus today as I pedaled home near the end of a ten-mile bike ride. It made me want to puke.

And they need that support, badly:

The protestors planned to deliver petitions for stronger legal oversight of the mortgage industry to Attorney General Roy Cooper. Instead, Cooper came to the rally to pick them up. "Your voices are being heard," Cooper told the three dozen or so people in the audience. "Financial fraud has been committed on our legal system, and it needs to be made right."

Yeah, it does. And the ones who are holding these families' futures in their hands don't appear to be concerned about doing the right thing. Or the smart thing. Or the expedient thing. As a matter of fact, I don't think they know what they're doing.

Several major banks have announced they will delay home foreclosures on primary residences while the details of help for homeowners is ironed out. A few more details here.