Chase deleted its 'make coffee at home' motivation tweet after a poor-shaming backlash

Chase, the consumer bank with 365,000 Twitter followers, ran #MondayMotivation content urging people to be better with money. The format chose the bank as the lecturer and the customer as the problem.

A scripted 'motivation' chat in which the bank tells a hypothetical customer why their balance is so low — meant as relatable advice about small daily savings.

The since-deleted tweet staged the conversation: 'Why is my balance so low?' answered by 'Make coffee at home ... eat the food that's already in the fridge ... you don't need a cab, it's only three blocks.' The backlash was swift — Senator Elizabeth Warren pointed out JPMorgan received over $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money in 2008; a Fast Company reporter noted Chase charges overdraft fees as high as $34; others contrasted CEO Jamie Dimon's $31 million pay. Chase deleted the post and replied: 'Our #MondayMotivation is to get better at #MondayMotivation tweets. Thanks for the feedback Twitter world.'

Chase acted quickly — the tweet was deleted and a self-deprecating apology followed — but the viral moment attached the bank's own receipts ($25B bailout, $34 overdraft fees, $31M CEO salary) to a personal-finance lecture it will not be repeating.

On 29 April 2019 Chase Bank's effort to provide 'Monday Motivation' backfired after a tweet pushing people to be fiscally responsible was widely criticised as 'poor shaming'. The since-deleted post offered a hypothetical conversation between a bank customer and the bank: the customer asks 'Why is my balance so low?' and the account replies 'Make coffee at home ... eat the food that's already in the fridge ... you don't need a cab, it's only three blocks.'

The backlash assembled a damning counter-context within hours. Senator Elizabeth Warren pointed out that JPMorgan, Chase's parent company, received over $25 billion in taxpayer money in the 2008 bailout. Fast Company reporter Cale Weissman noted Chase charges customers overdraft fees as high as $34. Barron's reporter Ben Walsh aimed at Jamie Dimon — 'It's well known that Jamie Dimon earned his riches making coffee at home and eating leftovers' — after JPMorgan's board had raised his salary to more than $31 million that January.

Chase deleted the post quickly and pivoted to self-deprecation: 'Our #MondayMotivation is to get better at #MondayMotivation tweets. Thanks for the feedback Twitter world.' There was even backlash to the backlash — some users defended the advice, and financial expert Dave Ramsey allowed that 'no one should ever shame someone for being poor' while still backing the habit-framing. Euronews' verdict on the whole episode: the bank could benefit from some timeless advice — 'Never tweet.'

The tweet's premise put the burden of a low balance on the customer's latte habits, not on a bank with its own record.

Any brand lecturing on thrift hands its audience a checklist — and the audience audited Chase's bailout, fees and executive pay instead.

The hypothetical-dialogue format made the condescension structural: the bank always gets the last word, until the quote-tweets arrived.

Deleting the tweet confirmed the story rather than ending it, because screenshots had already done the archiving.

Money advice from a bank only lands if the bank's own record survives the same scrutiny. On social media the audience supplies the context you left out — and their receipts beat your script.

Chase's quick deletion and jokey follow-up drew a line under the episode — Euronews noted corporate Twitter accounts have a lengthy history of deleting tweets and issuing apologies, and filed this one under the same canon alongside the advice 'Never tweet'. The tweet remains deleted.