Howard of the Halifax gets canned

Sir_Humphrey

To the tune of "Something tells me I'm into something good" by Herman and the Hermits:

"Howard, we've a credit crunch surprise for you too.
We've got a P45 for you..."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rod_liddle/article4493159.ece

The credit crunch certainly has its upside. The Halifax bank has decided to axe Howard Brown from its supremely irritating advertisements because the moon-faced Brummie counter clerk looks “too cheerful” for these hard times. Howard, you will remember, dances around with a grin on his face singing pop songs about how you should take out a mortgage you can’t afford. Nobody is doing that any more.

It is not known if Howard will return to his old job, if it’s still there, or pursue a career in show business. These are good times for debt collection agencies and the repo boys, so there may be some openings in advertisements for that sort of thing and Howard can dance around looking happy once again.

As for the Halifax, one is tempted to point it in the direction of Carol Vorderman. She has a bit of time on her hands, possesses experience of working for a certain sort of loan company and right now is feeling extremely hacked off, given that she was offered her old job at Countdown at a 90% pay cut. Or what about the magnificently sulky Naomi Campbell? “Take a loan out with us or don’t take a loan out with us. I couldn’t give a f***, you pigs.”

Well, he had more than his 15 minutes, and he got to be in The Office, so he can't complain too much.

Generali

We should have a whip round.

ManAtHome

Hope that he's been saving up
For a rainy day...

Ivor_Bigun

I didn't know who he was just by his name, but google was a great help

ad44downey

He might be joining all the ex-estate agents in the dole queue!!

dudleyboy

The credit crunch certainly has its upside. The Halifax bank has decided to axe Howard Brown from its supremely irritating advertisements because the moon-faced Brummie counter clerk looks “too cheerful” for these hard times. Howard, you will remember, dances around with a grin on his face singing pop songs about how you should take out a mortgage you can’t afford. Nobody is doing that any more.

Crikey! Who are they going to get to replace him - Richard Wilson in his Victor Meldrew personae?

"The economy is in ruins, we're all going to lose our jobs and it's all your fault for spending all that bloody money you didn't have(!) .... [grins] so why not take out one of our brand-new cash ISAs with a massive 8% AER fixed for 12 months? You won't believe it!"

lonestar1

Ivor_Bigun wrote: »

I didn't know who he was just by his name, but google was a great help

Well I dont feel sorry for him, Why should he get any 'Extra help from the halifax' :rotfl:

Dithering_Dad

He was miles better than that lard arsed fat women in the more recent ads. RIP Howard.

Not sure why people are enjoying his fall from grace so much, other than the usual House Price forum schadenfreund attitude.

I suspect though that Howard is laughing all the way to the bank - he must have earned an entire career's worth of Bank Manager's salary 5x over. Better to be a has-been than a never-was.

Generali

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

He was miles better than that lard arsed fat women in the more recent ads. RIP Howard.

Not sure why people are enjoying his fall from grace so much, other than the usual House Price forum schadenfreund attitude.

I suspect though that Howard is laughing all the way to the bank - he must have earned an entire career's worth of Bank Manager's salary 5x over. Better to be a has-been than a never-was.

I'm not so sure. I thought I read somewhere that he was earning his normal Halifax wage while doing the ads.

I hope he's ok, I wouldn't wish harm on the poor lad.

Dithering_Dad

Generali wrote: »

I'm not so sure. I thought I read somewhere that he was earning his normal Halifax wage while doing the ads.

I hope he's ok, I wouldn't wish harm on the poor lad.

After extensive research, well 5 mins googling really. I discovered that the other 'stars' did the ads on their usual rate of pay and then returned to their original jobs. Howard (who was a cashier, not a bank manager as I was led to believe) was given a new role as a "brand ambassador", with obviously a much higher salary than a cashier would receive. It's from this role that he's being 'let go'.

Howard also had a cameo appearance in The office and in 2005, he released a cover of You’re the First, the Last, My Everything by Barry White as a charity single peaking at number 13 in the UK charts.

I dare say he'll get a nice leaving package - it wouldn't do for HBOS to have their former poster boy sl@ggling them off in the press.

Good for him, it's alway nice to see an ordinary bloke get on, even if it was 'only' for 9 years (2000 - 2008).

Chris2685

Jeez, I didn't realise he had been around so long! He certainly had a good innings for doing an advert!