In early November, a hashtag called #irunmarathon was trending on social media. According to a catchy image accompanying the post, National Bank would donate 0.5 euros for every tweet or share that included the hashtag. The total amount would be donated to the special care center for children at the Naval Hospital of Piraeus.
Except that's not exactly how it is, especially if one reads the terms of the contest.
According to the Terms of the competition, our National Bank would only have 5,000 euros available regardless of whether the tweets and shares containing the hashtag #irunmarathon exceed 10,000! This is of course written in the “fine print.”
National Bank's marketing managers seem to have outdone themselves, using hoax methods to present us with a bank that sympathizes, supports, and gives euros to those in need.
The hoax methods we are mentioning are obviously for the first image that promises that with every tweet and every share, on the social networks Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, euros will be donated to the fund of the special care center for children of the Naval Hospital of Piraeus.
However, in order not to be unfair and blame the National Bank for such unheard-of situations, we should mention that the Terms of the competition also stated:
“The final amount that the Bank will allocate to the above Organization within the framework of the Program is at the discretion and absolute judgment of the Bank.”
Ultimately, the Bank generously allocated 20,000 euros, quadrupling the initial amount, “recognizing the enormous response” to the competition. The fact is mentioned in a banner on the website
However, this does not legitimize the “marketing technique” used by an official body. Of course, if you compare this technique with the loan advertisements on television during the boom years, you will not find any noticeable differences. The first and most prominent message displayed the amount and the ease of receiving it, and lower down on the screen, the second message in “fine print” ran at the speed of light, stating all the important information.
In any case, we must thank the National Football Team for its generous sponsorship (4x) and draw attention to those responsible as the "technique" of promoting the competition resembles a hoax.
