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June 16, 2009

Any other name would smell as sweet?

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart recently noted one of the odder twists of the financial bailout. Insurer AIG, bailed out to the tune of $180 billion, has ... Wait, I'll let Stewart tell it:
Stewart: "AIG is making some radical changes."

Clip of Edward Liddy, the company's CEO: "I think the AIG name is so thoroughly wounded, ... we've already begun the rebranding process to AIU."

Stewart: "$180 billion dollars and all you come up with is, 'Why don't we change a letter.' Talk about buying a vowel!"

After a bit of commentary that's too blue to quote here, Stewart said: "Also changing its name post-bailout: Citigroup, which will now become Citigrouu. While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac become, respectively, Mindy Sue and Jeffrey Monk. Plus Bank of America will now be called the Good Time Teddy Bear Hugateria."

You've got to laugh or you'll cry, right?

For non-comedy reporting on AIG's rebranding, see this Reuters story about efforts "to distance the giant insurer's sprawling operations across 130 countries away from the AIG name" and this Bloomberg article about the company taking its logo off ID badges and company credit cards.

Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins at 12:52 PM | | Comments (1)
Categories: Housing humor
        

Comments

Loved that episode. I laughed til I cried.

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About Jamie Smith Hopkins
Jamie Smith Hopkins, a Baltimore Sun reporter since 1999, writes about the regional economy. Her reporting on the housing market has won national and local awards. Hopkins is a Columbia native and has lived in Maryland all her life, save for 10 months spent covering schools in Ames, Iowa.
She trained to become a wonk by spending large chunks of time as a geek and an insufferable know-it-all.
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