Article: AD Beat: All Play and Some Work Lets WaMu Choose Fun: Why is a bunch of aging bankers comical? Just ask WaMu, which is laughing all the way to the bank with a new campaign that has prompted a record spike in the number of new checking accounts.

Washington Mutual likes to play seriously. Its new ad campaign, which tweaks the staid world of banking, certainly is fun-loving, even a little goofy.

The TV and print ads in newspapers, magazines and on billboards, which feature a group of older, white-haired white men, poke fun at stodgy, old-fashioned bankers who don't approve of WaMu's new free-checking account and its features: free ATM cash withdrawals for customers, a single free overdraft fee waiver annually, free checks for life, cash back for debit-card use, free outbound wires, and low-balance alerts. "Exactly how does that help the rich get richer?" protests one stodgy banker in one ad, as he puffs on ...

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