Bank rebuffs complaints

CINCINNATI (AP) — A bank that accepted billions in bailout money, then gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars in a sweepstakes, said Thursday that the promotion was just another form of advertising and rebuffed complaints of insensitivity to taxpayers.

Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank ran the “Unlock Your Dreams” scratch-off game for two months in the fall and awarded about $900,000 in prizes, including a $250,000 grand prize announced Dec. 22.

The bank announced Oct. 26 that it was receiving $3.4 billion from the government, which it has to pay back. Some lawmakers have criticized the bailout plan and how the money has been used.

“This sweepstakes might not use a dime of bailout money, and might be a legitimate and successful marketing tool for the bank, but something that passed the smell test prior to the bailout might not afterward,” Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Painesville, told The Plain Dealer.

“These institutions should walk on eggshells and really gauge what public reaction to their choices might be, because it’s not good enough in this climate to say, ‘I promise we didn’t use taxpayer money.”’

Fifth Third spokeswoman Debra DeCourcy said Thursday that public reaction has been highly favorable and that the contest generated more traffic than expected.

“There’s not a bank in the industry receiving ... money that isn’t advertising in some shape or form,” DeCourcy said.

“If we had spent the same dollars on radio, TV and newspapers ads, nobody would be questioning it. And from our standpoint, it was a much more effective approach.”

She declined to say how much business the promotion created for the bank, saying that information was proprietary.