The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is set to restart its TV advertising campaign for auto-enrolment next month without its infamous ‘Workie Monster’, Professional Adviser understands.
Instead of the multi-coloured fluffy monster, the new campaign is expected to look to build up trust in the auto-enrolment scheme by featuring various celebrities personally endorsing pensions.
The ‘Workie’ campaign, which was launched in October 2015, swapped high-profile promoters such as Baroness Karren Brady for the large, fluffy monster in an attempt to reach a wider audience.
The £8.5m a-year advert saw ‘Workie’ wander around a park in broad daylight only to be totally ignored by passers-by. The end message of the campaign was “Don’t ignore the workplace pension”.
The campaign did not meet with universal approval, however, prompting a backlash on Twitter as people complained of being patronised and treated like children.
‘Do it now!’
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently hired Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger for its campaign to spread awareness of the deadline for bringing claims about Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).
In the new advert, an animatronic model of Schwarzenegger’s head is seen urging consumers to “Do it now!” and take a decision about making a PPI complaint before the deadline on 29 August 2019 – a reference to his 1987 movie Predator.
Like the ‘Workie’ campaign, the advert has been met with a dose of cynicism from the Twittersphere:
Just watched the #FCA Ad with #Arnie…. not far off one of the worst ads I’ve witnessed. #advertising pic.twitter.com/XwsFD9xLSe
— kaye moors (@kayemoors) September 24, 2017
Either I’ve just seen the FCA advert with ‘Arnie’ or I’m hallucinating. What the heck?!?!
— Squiggly Socks (@SquigglySocks) September 13, 2017
I assume some mad person built that arnie head robut and then accidentally reverse engineered the fca ppi advert while drinking heavily.
— mostbutnotall (@mostbutnotall) September 3, 2017
When contacted about this story, the DWP would neither confirm nor deny Workie’s fate.
The post DWP fires the Workie Monster appeared first on Retirement Planner.