BoI shifts ad after client name gaffe

FINANCIAL giant Bank of Ireland has been forced to rethink its latest big budget ad campaign after inadvertently upsetting a customer.

A new 30-second television ad for mortgage advice originally showed a hairy bogeyman called Derek Whelan hiding under a child’s bed, in dire need of a bigger place to live.

But the real Mr Whelan, a long-term business customer of the bank, contacted staff concerned about being associated with the grisly looking character.

The ad was changed and the mythical monster now has the more harmless name “Dave the Bogeyman”.

A BoI spokesman said the change was made once the customer contacted them.

“We had a contact from somebody of the name Derek Whelan who asked us not to use his name. He had a concern with his name being used and in deference with his sensitivities we had no difficulty in making the change,” the spokesman said.

The ad was first aired last week and ran for several days before being changed.

BoI insisted, however, relations with Mr Whelan remain strong despite the hiccup.

“Though we were dealing with mythical characters, the issues are real,” he said. “We created the names, obviously there was no intention to identify people.”

The Dave the Bogeyman ad is part two of a three-ad series. But careful not to make the same mistake twice, BoI will only use first names for the final instalment.