Jamie Dimon’s #AskJPM Twitter-tastrophe highlights how far his firm’s once-storied post-crisis reputation has plummeted.
JPMorgan Chase, already dealing with at least eight Justice Department probes, found itself Thursday enduring a second day of public ridicule over its decision to invite the public to tweet questions to a top executive.
“This isn’t just tone deaf, this is stupid,” said Paul Argenti, a Communications professor at Dartmouth College. “To do this when everyone is thinking of them in the worst possible light is just as dumb as can be,” Argenti offered.
JPMorgan, as part of several federal probes, is expected in the coming weeks to agree to a $13 billion settlement of investigations into it underwriting soured mortgage assets.
JPMorgan’s #AskJPM outreach, which was to feature one of its star bankers, Jimmy Lee, was cobbled together by its marketing and advertising team and intended to serve as equal parts public outreach and recruiting tool for aspiring bankers and business folks, sources said.
JPMorgan on Wednesday quickly canceled the Q&A scheduled for Thursday.
The hashtag drew about 24,000 posts, according to Bloomberg, which quoted stats from tracking service Topsy.
The mocking may have reached a crescendo Thursday afternoon when actor Stacy Keach, who narrates CNBC’s “American Greed” series, read some of the more entertaining tweets live on the cable network.
“I think this is one of the fastest and most negative reactions we’ve seen on Twitter for a major global brand,” said Ted Birkhahn, president of Peppercomm, a p.r. firm.
“Right now JPMorgan has a bull’s eye on its back,” Birkhahn noted.
Argenti blames the snafu on a disconnect between JPM’s marketing and advertising and its corporate communications unit, headed by Joseph Evangelisti.
“[Marketing and advertising] should have sat down with their communications team, specifically Evangelisti, and he would have said this is not a good idea,” Argenti said.