I guess this is in some way to win people over on their brand? $5 million is such a drop in the bucket. Yahoo!'s founders (David and Jerry) are donating $1 million to charity because 60% Yahoo! employees participated in the fund raiser.
Oh well, $5 million is better than nothing. Wish I knew the motive was pure.
Marketing is everything, and I'm pulling this out of my ass but I think Chase's biggest marketing ploy is the sheer number of branches and ATMs they have and are acquiring.
They get this huge tarp subsidy and then they spend a big chunk of it buying (or renting?) cheap real estate in the ghetto...
Buying cheap facebook karma is just the analog to this in the virtual realm.
JPChase were also deep with Enron, FHA, Fanny/Freddy and pretty much all the scams/information warfare that are draining the average citizen.
I bank at a local credit union. ATM fees suck but it feels righter paying Chase the one-off fee than giving them my savings so they can lend it out at a 20X multiple and continue the mindrape.
Still, $5M to local charities is all for the good, right? Is your argument that they're too stingy or that trying to buy goodwill by making donations is wrong?
My argument, if you want to call it that, is that the people running JP Morgan are social parasites or criminals, depending on your point of view, so I don't take anything they do too seriously.
If the japanese mafia decided to open a shelter for puppies in yokohama, I would look at it in a pretty similar light. Thanks for the puppy shelter, mafia dudes, but you're still a bunch of criminals.
Oh well, $5 million is better than nothing. Wish I knew the motive was pure.