These men, these woman, that whole generation — they deserve better from all of us as the sun sets on their time on Planet Earth. And I’ll tell you something else: they deserve something better from TD than invidious slurs on their intelligence and social value. They deserve your respect. Forty, fifty, sixty years ago, these “farts” TD has maligned were vigorous young men with jobs and businesses and growing bank accounts. They were your customers. You did everything you could to curry their favour, to attract and retain their loyalty to your brand. They were the backbone of your enterprise. They were your valued partners in the post-war bank-building process. Is the “Old Farts” programme really the thanks you show them? Is this what they deserve after their years of loyalty to your institution? Human memory is short, indeed.
Guess what! Most people do not age gracefully or well. The elderly can be difficult and inconvenient – like guests who’ve stayed too long at the party. They can be a trial and a constant worry. This is the course of human life. No, it’s not always easy to “dance with the ones what brung ya”. But we have to try. We have to try as children and grandchildren — and as financial institutions like TD. We have to exhibit decency and gratitude – if for no other reason than because time will claim us all in the end.
How are we paving our own road ahead? In our declining hours and days, will we want to be marginalized or turned into diaper-wearing, intelligence-reduced ad spot freaks for younger people to smirk at? I don’t think so. We’ll want compassion. We’ll want to be remembered for who we were and what we did when we were young and vital, when the world was ours and we were its natural heroes.
Time is not kind to any of us. TD has no moral right to add to the unkindness. Stepping on the necks of our forebears to win a few cheap, worthless laughs? Is there any honour in that? If you ask me, it’s disreputable and disgraceful. As Jane Austen’s Mr. Knightly might have said: “Badly done, TD! Badly Done!”
I would like a written reply to this letter, and the person I really want to hear from is the TD executive who greenlighted TD’s ad agency’s “Old Farts” campaign. I want him or her to tell me why this ad series is so clever, so funny, so worthy of the TD imprimatur.
Keywords: ageism, complaints
