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thatcrazycajunLast night, I saw a TV commercial for a new credit card Bank of America is offering...with an old, old name I hadn't heard in decades: BankAmeriCard. (Yahoo! News reports on the story here.)
Now, follow me on this: Back almost half a century ago, the original BankAmeriCard was conceived as a way for California businesses to outsource their monthly client billing. The concept proved so popular, they expanded it nationwide, and then copycat networks started appearing in other countries and were eventually merged into one worldwide network. This became independent of BoA and was renamed Visa. (Wikipedia has a detailed history outlined here.) It also inspired a competitor, Master Charge, which you may recall eventually became MasterCard.
Today, 49 years later, the bank that originated what most of us of a certain age remember as the first true universal charge card is launching a descendant of the original...with the brand name of the old one, right alongside the newer brand of the organization that grew out of the original.
Am I the only one who sees an amusing bit of historical recursion (not to mention redundancy) in this? Just wondering...
Now, follow me on this: Back almost half a century ago, the original BankAmeriCard was conceived as a way for California businesses to outsource their monthly client billing. The concept proved so popular, they expanded it nationwide, and then copycat networks started appearing in other countries and were eventually merged into one worldwide network. This became independent of BoA and was renamed Visa. (Wikipedia has a detailed history outlined here.) It also inspired a competitor, Master Charge, which you may recall eventually became MasterCard.
Today, 49 years later, the bank that originated what most of us of a certain age remember as the first true universal charge card is launching a descendant of the original...with the brand name of the old one, right alongside the newer brand of the organization that grew out of the original.
Am I the only one who sees an amusing bit of historical recursion (not to mention redundancy) in this? Just wondering...
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-02 01:58 pm (UTC)But there's already a precedent. Been following the history of AT&T? Modulo Qwest and Verizon, the old DeathStarCo is back in business... of course, there's actually something resembling competition these days, particularly because not everyone has a landline, and T-Mobile and the VOIP boys are giving Ma Bell fits...
The other thing is, I wouldn't touch B**** of America with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole.
Hey, you're in Atlanta. You're familiar with how Clark Howard cost BofA a buttload because they sent some poor innocent schmuck to jail?
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Date: 2007-11-02 02:13 pm (UTC)Nope. I do know who Clark Howard is (there's talk now of running him for mayor), but that story musta been before my time.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-02 02:37 pm (UTC)Google "Clark Howard Bank of America". Quite amusing, in a sick sort of way.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-07 02:52 am (UTC)Be sure to go to http://www.clarkhoward.com/ . We enjoy looking through the "customer no-service" sections & savoring the snark. [They're not allowed to mention product names on the radio show; the website has no such restraints.]
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Date: 2007-11-02 03:24 pm (UTC)Wish I could say that. But I work for a contractor in their investment banking arm (doing graphics and presentations); they pay the bills, so I try not to talk too nastily about them. (But the 3,000 jobs they just cut include one of our favorite bankers, of the demanding-but-appreciative-of-quality-work sort, so I'm a tad peeved with them.)
no subject
Date: 2007-11-02 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-02 04:02 pm (UTC)Nostalgic blather
Date: 2007-11-02 08:15 pm (UTC)Many fen were up in arms at this horrendous blow to their wallets. Some claimed they would boycott the con unless the concom changed its policy. (It didn't. Con attendance didn't seem to suffer much.)
I proposed a nickname for the con: "BankAmeriCon."
Well, I used it in a couple of zines.
Two years later, BankAmeriCard became VISA, and shortly thereafter I couldn't even tell the story of my great influence on fannish jargon any more, since no one would get the pun.
I guess now I'm all ready for the next Worldcon in Kansas City.
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