Pikey? Why as the saying goes – there’s an app for that…
So shocked and appalled was I on the way to work this fine morning, I could have written to Anne Robinson.
I saw an ad on the tube this morning for wonga.com advertising short-term loans.
You know, the type a man in a dirty trench coat normally offers / sends his heavies to call in when you can’t afford to meet the repayments?
Well, it wasn’t so much the ad itself that bothered me. It was the fact that someone in the marketing department thought it’d be a good idea to have an i-phone app. I mean, WTF!?
Now, call me old-fashioned.
But for one thing, the targeting here. Well, it just seems a little off. Nay, a lot off. I haven’t seen too many people on the bread line updating their status from TweetDeck, nor have I heard many adlanders in Charlotte St. say ‘Oooh, I’m a bit strapped this month Betty. Let me get some cash till pay-day before I get my next round in…’.
The world’s gone mad. Stark raving bonkers. How do they cash in when someone misses a payment. Virtual trench coat heavies???
Iain G. Morrison is a senior marketer in the British Tourism Industry. And would love to hear about stupid i-phone apps you have come across…
igmorrison's blog 
Wonga wouldn’t lending to people on the breadline, only to those who clearly have the means to do so. Payday lenders like Wonga lend right across the soci-economic spectrum. They have become more and more popular since the banks have started saying no to everyone and they can work out cheaper than going overdrawn and were recently given a clean bill of health by the OFT. The iPhone app only works as it should once you have established an account with them and they can see you are a good credit risk.