Political Correctness runs amok again

Rants / December 18, 2007 / John / 1

A bloke I know works for the Britannia Building Society. He’s just received the following internal memo.

Piggy Banks or Froggy Banks?

As a result of feedback received from our members through the Feedback Café, we have made changes to our Piggy Bank Promotion.

We were made aware that we have members and potential members who are interested in our children’s savings account but their religious beliefs may mean that they are unable to take out the account due to the savings bank being a pig.

To ensure that the account appeals to everyone and that there are no disappointed children out there we have secured a limited stock of ‘Froggy Banks’ as an alternative to the ‘Piggy Banks’ for customers in this situation.

The ‘Froggy Banks’ are not to be offered as an alternative to all customers, only offer ‘Froggy Banks’ to customers who advise you of a religious or cultural reason that may prevent them from taking out this account. .

If you would like to order a ‘Froggy Bank’ please follow the following process;

1. Branch member emails xxxx@britannia.co.uk with the request for a frog.
2. The decision is made as to whether there is a valid case to have a frog.
3. If the request is valid a frog will be ordered.
4. XXXX will courier a frog to the customer – do not contact XXXX directly as they will only respond to requests through the correct channels.

Now, forgive me if I’m being naive, but this is the BRITANNIA building society, yes? It’s not the INDIA, or ARABIA? Last time I looked, Piggy Banks have been a part of British culture since the 18th Century. But now, it appears, Britannia are to offer a Froggy bank as an “alternative” to a Piggy Bank to those customers who are insecure enough as to be offended by a pottery piggy. And who pays for the special run of Froggy Banks, do you think? Will it be reflected in the interest rate offered to those for whom a standard piggy bank isn’t good enough? Course not – it’ll be factored into the overall costs that ALL customers pay. Even the ones without a morbid terror of all things porky.

So there we have it – established business practices and social traditions can be overturned on a whim just to be politically correct. I don’t know about anyone else, but I find the idea of brutalising women, corporal punishment and forced marriages offensive. Don’t see any of those things being publicly criticised any time soon.

The thing I find the most wierd about this is that I know loads of Muslims, none of whom would bat an eyelid at a piggy bank. So who are these people popping up and complaining about piggy banks, nativity plays, etc etc. I don’t actually think they exist. The Muslims I know personally are well-adjusted, gentle, friendly people. These few people throwing a strop at every little thing are doing no favours for Islam.

The christians in this country are constantly being reminded that it’s a multicultural society and that we should be tolerant and accepting.

It seems to me that all the “tolerance” is going down a one-way street.

p.s. I noticed that NatWest are currently using piggy bank imagery in their printed material – expect that to be dropped real soon.

p.p.s. Pork is banned in Islam. Piggy banks aren’t made out of pork.

John

UNIX geek, wannabe cook, musician, book-lover, and all round good-guy.