Few things on the internet will draw rapid-fire snark like a major corporation trying to appropriate millennial culture. But when that corporation manages also to insult its non-wealthy customers with a hypocritical and cringeworthy attempt at humor, you better believe all bets are off.
That’s exactly what Chase Bank did on Monday by tweeting in a popular meme format about customers with low account balances. Yahoo Finance managing editor Colin Campbell managed to screenshot the message before it was deleted less than 30 minutes later.
It’s a bold move for the bank to shame its struggling customers like that, especially considering JPMorgan Chase’s role in creating the 2008 financial crisis. Or the fact that it accepted $12 billion in bailout money to survive after said crisis. Or the fact that despite all this, boss Jamie Dimon is the highest-paid banking and finance CEO in the U.S., earning $28.3 million in total compensation in 2017.
And let’s not forget that less than three weeks ago, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) ripped Dimon apart when he couldn’t explain how one of his own employees ― a bank teller and single mom who earns only $2,425 per month in Southern California ― could reasonably address a $567 shortfall in her bare-bones monthly budget. Pretty sure she couldn’t make that up by spurning lattes!
Unsurprisingly, the hypocrisy and condescension were not well-received, and Twitter users let Chase have it. Here are some of the best responses to the tone-deaf tweet, including one from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).