It’s time for banks to clean up their houses.
At least, that’s the message Bank of America svp Lou Paskalis sent last month when he announced the bank will hire a brand safety officer to ensure the company’s ads aren’t served up next to controversial content.
“I get a text from my chief financial officer every time there is news about a brand safety issue. I know why he is sending them to me… at some point he is going to say ‘gee is marketing safe to invest in?’ and we don’t want that,” he said.“We have to clean up our house right now.”
Paskalis is part of a growing, yet somewhat puzzling trend: Top marketers at giant financial institutions are becoming the new most vocal people demanding change in marketing, evangelizing a cleanup of digital media, or simply becoming more “woke.”
It’s perhaps a little ironic: These are heads of marketing at companies that are part of an industry still recovering from the reputational crises brought during the financial crisis. Their investment banking counterparts continue to rack up fines for things like anti-money laundering violations and market manipulation — things that have long run rampant in the industry and perhaps always will.
More in Marketing
AI screenings, budget cuts, and burnout: What’s really behind advertising’s hiring disconnect
The job market has never been easy to navigate. But between tightened marketing budgets, agency consolidation and economic headwinds, the job market is as convoluted as ever.
Cannes Briefing: A guide to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025
Here’s what we can tell you about Cannes Lions 2025 so far.
How PayPal is using Venmo, Honey transactions to win over marketers to its ads business
PayPal, which has offered advertising since October 2024, is going live with a new tool for onsite and offsite advertisers.