Barclays Won’t Dare Use ‘Nazi’ Eagle If It Upsets ABN Amro
AHEAD of their predicted takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro, Barclays are pondering whether or not to remove their famous eagle logo. The reason? Apparently it could offend Dutch people as it somewhat resembles an eagle emblem used by the Nazis.
The Barclays’ bird dates back to 1728 when two of its founders moved to new premises in London, above which was the sign of the Black Spread Eagle. The German bird, on the other hand, is an old national symbol which was used by kings and emperors of the region before being adopted by the Nazis.
The Nazis went on to occupy the Netherlands during the Second World War and with a £45billion deal in the balance, Barclays don’t want to irk any customers of ABN Amro.
A source close to the bank says: “It is rather a Teutonic-looking eagle and has unfortunate connotations.”
Surely the magpie, a bird that is prone to dealing in other people’s treasures, would be a better representation of Barclays? Or some other bird of prey…
Posted: 19th, June 2007 | In: Money Comments (6) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
June 21st, 2007 at 12:36 am
use a bull finch
June 20th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Is it just me….or does that Magpie bear a striking resemblance to Adolf Hitler?
June 20th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
What about a Little Egret? No reason. I just like them. I’m a member of the PC Brigade. Recently promoted to first officer. So pipe down.
June 20th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
A magpie thieves off people–banks do the same! As for the PC Brigade, they come up with some stupid ideas!!
June 20th, 2007 at 8:43 am
I don’t know if RBS will win ABN Amro battle but for sure they have a very good PROPAGANDA office.
)
Naming Barclays a “magpie” or even a “bird of prey”, while in fact is RBS that is trying to RIP the Dutch bank, is really ludicrous.
I think that Dutch Supreme Court will stop the Scottish vulture soon, after that … bye bye RBS, Santander and Fortis!
(and fuck you all, stupid stakeholders
June 19th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
do you think a vulture would feel it was somehow non PC to use their species