Well, it’s nice to be thanked.
AIG, or the American International Group insurance company, has launched a 2013 advertising campaign entitled “Thank You America.” The campaign, which will cover print, broadcast, and Web media, is intended to pass on the company’s appreciation to U.S. taxpayers for the largest financial bailout in American history. It also highlights the company’s return to profitablity, and its contribution to communities coast to coast.
We suppose it’s better to be thanked versus the alternative. We’ll admit, though, that the first thing we did upon hearing this news was to check to see if We The People are paying for the AIG’s expressions of appreciation.
We’re not. As of December, 2012, the Treasury has divested itself of AIG stock and has seen a profit of $22.7 billion on its bailout, dating from September 2008, which totaled $182 billion. All in all, that’s not a bad return from a fiscal episode that was, at the time, absolutely terrifying.
But here’s the thing — our well-thumbed ettiquette handbook tells us that gratitude is typically offered for assistance willingly given. Did any of us actually choose to bail out AIG?
Not by a long shot. AIG got bailed out because their bad decisions and poor investments effectively pointed a loaded gun at our collective heads. The Treasury opted to save AIG because not doing so would have likely sunk the economy.
And there’s something frankly self-congratulatory in this “Thank You” campaign. AIG knows, as do we all, that their corporate image was irreparably tarnished in those dark days of 2008. During the financial industry hearings on Capitol Hill, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), famously suggested on the record that AIG executives should resign — or commit suicide.
We won’t go (quite) that far. But we will suggest that AIG’s appreciation might be better expressed more constructively. Couldn’t they have written a check to the Treasury in the amount they’re spending on this campaign? Or given it to the victims of Hurricane Sandy or Sandy Hook?
Saying thanks is supposed to be an act of selflessness. If AIG is able to learn that lesson, we might be more inclined to say, “You’re welcome.”
The C4:
- The American International Group, or AIG, was laid low in late 2008 after investing heavily in mortgage-based credit default swaps. When their likely collapse seemed destined to crash our economy, the U.S. Treasury bailed them out to the tune of $182 billion.
- But happy days are here again. AIG has paid back all their direct loans, and the Treasury has sold off all the AIG stock it was holding. We’ve recovered that $182 billion, plus nearly $23 billion in pure profit.
- Which is great. Better than most of us expected, in fact. Why then, does it leave a bad taste in our mouths to learn AIG has launched a massive “Thank You America” advertising campaign?
- Because none of us chose to bail out AIG, and because something about “Thank You America” sounds a lot like “Aren’t We Swell?” For obvious reasons, we’re all in favor of advertising campaigns — the bigger, the better, in fact. But in this case we’d rather have seen AIG spend their advertising dollars on a true act of selflessness. That is, after all, how one truly says “thanks.”
