Thursday 11 November 2021 at abrdn Plc’s offices in St Andrew’s Square, Edinburgh, UK.
Jonny Roritz | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Media slams asset management firm’s current names AbledonThe company’s chief investment officer, Peter Branner, said the name change from “Standard Life Aberdeen” to “Standard Life Aberdeen” amounted to “corporate bullying.”
The company announced its name change in April 2021 and has since faced ridicule, jokes and ridicule from the media.
in a statement The company said in a release at the time that its name was pronounced “Aberdeen” as if the vowels were still included, and that the rebrand marked “the next step in reshaping the business and future-proofing its growth strategy.” stage”. The company’s chief executive later described the new brand name as “modern,” “dynamic” and “attractive.”
in a economic news In an interview on Monday, Branner called the media’s ridicule of the name “childish” and accused the media of frequent jokes.
“I know corporate bullying is part of the game with the media to some extent, although it’s a little childish to keep hammering away at the missing vowels in our names,” he said.
He added that people wouldn’t treat individuals this way, but the media seemed to hold companies to a different standard.
“Would you do that to a person? How would you feel about someone making fun of your name day in and day out? It might be unethical to do that. But obviously it’s different for companies,” he added.
An Abrdn spokesperson told CNBC on Tuesday that the company appreciates that “media outlets should make their own assessments of the companies they want to cover.”
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