Singaporean bank DBS drew equal parts laughter and cringe by quoting one of the founding fathers of communism in an ad printed Saturday in the national broadsheet.
Many seized upon the irony of a pillar of capitalism quoting Friedrich Engels in an ad that appeared in the Life section of The Straits Times newspaper.
“The emancipation of women will only be possible when women can take part in production on a large social scale,” it said.
Engels in 1848 cowrote The Communist Manifesto with German philosopher Karl Marx, which set the foundation for a political ideology putting the interests of workers above all else.
“DBS, one of Singapore’s biggest agents of capital, quotes a communist as part of its daily ad in the Life section of The Straits Times. Not just any communist, mind you, but the co-author of The Communist Manifesto,” Facebook user Simon Vincent wrote Saturday.
He attributed it to some thoughtless Googling by a marketer.
“I’ve always had the impression that the quotes are picked, without context or knowledge of the writers’ works, for their feel-good factor. Now, I’m sure of it,” he added in his post, which has been shared more than 400 times.
DBS has not publicly addressed the matter.
Several others reacted to the ad with humor. Others highlighted its timing, coming at a time the world’s organizing economic principle is teetering on the precipice and the needs of corporations vs. workers are being hotly debated.
“The irony is proof that capitalism has reached the limit of its imagination..as Engels predicted it would,” Facebook user Andrew J Mowatt wrote in a comment.
“THIS IS THE BIGGEST IRONY – but actually if you think about it, Capital Vol. 1 is as much a critique of capitalism as it can be read as a formula on how to create a perfect capitalist society… so including women and children as waged labourers to increase surplus value does make sense for the capitalist,” another user Loo Zihan chimed in, referring to the book written by Karl Marx.
Engel’s original quote came from his book The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, published in 1884, 11 years before his death.
For those seeking a crash course in this figure, who helped shape the course of 20th century history, can read more on British academic site School History.
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