Rogue AIB ‘Abusive Teller Machine’ alerts customers to financial abuse
An innovative partnership led by Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has served to raise awareness of financial abuse in Ireland via a passive-aggressive cash machine that dispensed more than just notes.
Abusive Teller Machine was conceived in collaboration with Rothco (part of Accenture Interactive) and Women’s Aid to bring home the reality of financial abuse experienced by an estimated 198,000 women – equivalent to a tenth of all Irish women over the age of 15.
Surprising customers with its unorthodox menus the rogue machine first enquired ‘Why do you need more money?’ when people attempted to withdraw their hard earned. Subsequent queries ranging from ‘Are you hiding money from me?’ to ‘If you’re lying, I’ll find out’, swiftly transformed initial perplexion into anger.
Mark Doyle, chief marketing officer at AIB said: “Through our discussions with Women’s Aid it became clear just how big an issue financial abuse within relationships is in Ireland, and how little it’s being talked about specifically.
"Given the numbers of women affected, we wanted to collaborate with Women’s Aid to raise public awareness and education levels around what constitutes financial abuse and to ensure anyone who is suffering knows who to turn to for support. At an organisational level, we’re ensuring we have the right support in place to meaningfully assist any of our customers who are experiencing financial abuse.”
Designed to convey the message that easy access to your own money cannot be taken for granted by everyone the campaign urges anyone suffering equivalent issues in their own lives to seek support from Women’s Aid.
Previous AIB campaigns have adopted a more conventional approach dealing in key products such as mortgages.