TD Bank is apologizing and has pulled one of its in-branch ads after many claimed the ad was racist for the way it referred to Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood.
The ad said, “When you’re downtown, but your debit card’s somewhere in Dorchester.” Many on social media took the “somewhere in Dorchester” part to mean stolen.
Hey @TDBank_US what’s with the racist ad in Boston? If you you’re wondering why this is racist, just take a guess. You’re probably right. pic.twitter.com/rBr0XtaGLR
— Reilly –Abolish ICE– Hay (@reillyhay) March 20, 2019
After substantial social media pushback, the company, which has 143 branches in Massachusetts and the fifth largest deposit share in the Boston metropolitan area, according to the FDIC, pulled the ad last Thursday, according to Boston.com.
“We are sorry that an ad that appeared in one of our stores was insensitive to the Dorchester community,” TD Bank said in a statement to numerous media outlets. “The ad, which was removed today, does not reflect our core values around diversity and inclusion.”
TD Bank is not the first company to get into trouble for an ad like this, as Samsung ran into similar trouble in 2017 when it posted an ad that said, “We’ll keep your work stuff safe if you go to Alewife and your phone goes to Mattapan.”
What’s up with this ad message? Why use Mattapan? Not even on the red line. @marty_walsh @MBTA What are they implying? pic.twitter.com/ZLM7SJIpuy
— Bay State Banner (@BayStateBanner) August 30, 2017
Samsung apologized and removed the banner.