FSA throws money away.

The UK’s Financial Services Authority is running an advert on Smooth Radio, a program I often listen to. And advert comes on about once an hour telling listeners that the money in their bank is safe because the FSA, i.e. government, guarantees it. The advert has been running for weeks if not months and I’m sick of it.

This raises two questions as follows.

1. I’d guess that about 95% of the population are already aware that government stands behind bank accounts. So what’s the point of the advert?

2. Isn't this all a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted? I mean there might have been some merit in running the advert over a ten year period PRIOR TO the crunch and running the advert just once a day. But what’s the point of running it now? To repeat, as a result of the crunch everyone now knows that government stands behind bank accounts.

But never mind. If you’re in the public sector, an important priority is to spend your budget so as to make sure the budget isn't cut next year. How you actually spend it is a minor consideration.