NEW YORK — In a brief moment of honesty, American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault announced to reporters that the company’s recent financial difficulties had to do with attracting “the wrong kind of customer.”
The majority of American Express’s customers were well-to-do, successful young adults with a good sense of financial stability — people Chenault described as the “leaching, filthy, undesirables” of the credit card industry.
“What we need more of are irresponsible, impulsive spenders who don’t know where their next paycheck is coming from,” Chenault explained to reporters, moments before announcing that he would be pulling all American Express advertisements from Public Radio, the History Channel, and the NY Times to shift their focus to the Fox News network, TLC, and Pop music radio stations.
“Let’s face it, we make our money from people who can’t pay their bills on time. The kind of people who buy high-heels or basketball jerseys without thinking about the consequences. Why would we advertise in a newspaper? That just does not make sense,” Chenault noted before confirming that he didn’t care whether or not his customers could read, what mattered was that they bought stuff they couldn’t afford. “People who pay their bills on time are not the kind of people our company wants to be associated with.”
American Express’s new ad campaign “Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out,” launches later this month.
