The European Central Bank has announced that the euro will carry no
national symbols
Stephen Hoffman Womersley
De La Rue
’Introducing new banknotes is always an emotive issue. That we should
want an easily recognisable face makes sense because faces, rather than
objects, on banknotes are the most instantly recognisable feature. But
then monarchs have only been on our banknotes since 1960 so whether it
is the Queen or not, it really shouldn’t matter.’
Catherine Morris
Red Rooster PR
’People will resist it because they don’t like to see old traditions
die. We have a Walt Disney concept of tradition in the UK, symbolised by
the olde worlde country pub, cottages and thatched roofs. But most
people don’t have that, you can only buy a time share in it. As a
consequence young people in particular are not emotionally attached to
tradition. There is always something better to replace it.’
Joy King
Eastern Group
’We will have the usual debate we have with new currency, everybody will
hate it, it will resound within the press and then the controversy will
die down. Everybody hated the fifty pence coin and everyone thought the
pounds 1 coin would wear a hole in their pockets. Now they are accepted
currency. People just get on with life, there are more important
things.’
Lee Coomber
Wolff Olins
’The problem with the money is that it is bland. It needs something that
you can have an emotional response to, like football. It is about
belonging to something which is better and making people feel it is
theirs. You can never feel great about someone else’s head of state but
you can feel great about something which is public property.’
Charles Lewington
Media Strategy
’The design of the euro brilliantly serves the purposes of the EMU’s
creators. The note is utterly faceless and all trace of national
symbolism has been removed with Orwellian ruthlessness. The first wave
of participating countries won’t bat an eyelid because they are not
sentimental about their national currencies. We can foam at the mouth as
much as we like about our absent sovereign, but I don’t believe that the
British would vote to join EMU even if the whole Royal Family was
pictured on the note.’
