Abstract:
This paper investigates how targeted advertising can affect the take-up of financial services by vulnerable populations and its impact on racial inequality. We do so through the lens of the Freedman’s Savings Bank, which was established in 1865 after the Civil War to collect deposits from recently freed African Americans. The bank enjoyed success in recruiting depositors over its almost decade-long tenure, in spite of extensive management and governance issues, as well as missed interest payments. Using a comprehensive dataset of newspaper articles and advertisements published over 1865-1874, we show that the bank promoted itself extensively to African Americans, making false claims and moral statements. This advertising campaign stands out as being unique among other savings institutions at this time in both magnitude and content, including banks marketing to other minority groups. Evidence on discriminatory lending practices and large depositor losses suggest a transfer of wealth from African Americans to white populations.