By Richard Glover

Copyright theage

The latest advertising campaign for the Commonwealth Bank features an older couple getting married with the slogan “Doubt Never Did”. Apparently, the campaign is “designed to empower Australians to overcome self-doubt and take action towards their personal and business goals”.

There are other people featured in the campaign – sports stars and business owners – but always with the same message. If you have an inkling you want to do something, you should shoulder aside doubt and get on with it. The slogan, according to the bank’s head of marketing, is meant to help us “move past uncertainty”.

It’s terrible advice, of course, particularly from a financial institution. “I doubt I can afford that new pair of shoes, or a holiday in Tuscany, or a big renovation of my business premises.” Well, tut-tuts the bank, Doubt Never Did. Just sign here for your new line of credit. And, of course, if the bank really believed in always choosing hope over doubt, they’d approve every loan application, so they are selling a message they don’t really share.

Personally, I’m a big fan of self-doubt. I think there should be more of it. If I were a bank, my slogan would be: “Why Don’t You Have Another Think?”