Ontario-Wide Financial has been advertising on television quite often lately. Their ad doesn’t apply to me so mostly I tried to ignore it. But then I accidentally watched it with discernment one day.
They declare in the voice-over that they are not a bank. On the screen it says, “Ontario-Wide Financial isn’t a bank.” Then a line strokes out “isn’t a bank”. Which means that Ontario-Wide Financial is a bank. But the voice-over said they weren’t a bank.
Normally I would just have fun with this. I might say it is a modern day paradox whether Ontario-Wide Financial is a bank or not. Or that it is like Schrodinger’s cat which is simultaneously alive or dead until you collapse the wave function by opening the box. Or I might finally end with: usually a verbal agreement (you believing the voice-over) is superseded by the written contract (what you saw written out in front of you), so Ontario-Wide Financial is indeed a bank.
But this is Canada where there are specific laws for the rights and obligations of banks. For instance, when Toronto Dominion Bank bought out Canada Trust years ago, Canada Trust had a large real estate arm. TD Bank was obligated to sell this arm because banks, in Canada, aren’t allowed to own property. Indeed this goes so far that the brick and mortar branches of banks are leased from real estate companies.
Anyhow, Ontario-Wide Financial should have some explaining to do to the regulator of banks. Claiming they are a bank when in fact they will not act like one, is a serious offense. They should be advised to clear up this misunderstanding immediately. Maybe it was just a mistake by their marketing division. If so, I would expect a retraction of the ad posthaste. Or a new version without the strike through of “isn’t a bank”.
And maybe just maybe, if they don’t clean up the confusion of the ad, I could hire a lawyer and perhaps make some pocket change from them in court. Maybe their ad does apply to me after all. And it’s not a paradox at all – just a money making scheme for me.
