WASHINGTON–The Merchants Payments Coalition has unveiled a new TV commercial that targets Visa’s sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup even as the company refuses to “allow competition over billions of dollars in swipe fees that drive up prices for consumers,” according to the organization.
The association noted the advertising is also appearing at the same time the Credit Card Competition Act is before Congress, legislation the MPC strongly supports and which credit unions just as adamantly oppose.
The ads are appearing as the World Cup takes place in Qatar.
“Visa is spending untold millions of dollars to promote competition in soccer even though it refuses to allow competition over swipe fees and how transactions are routed,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association for Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said in a statement. “Visa says it wants to ‘give football fans from around the world the best way to pay,’ but it should start by allowing competition over the hidden fees that are charged every time soccer fans and other consumers use a credit card. If competition is good on the soccer field, it’s good on the swipe fee playing field as well.”
The commercial, which is being run by MPC member NACS, shows a soccer game taking place in a packed stadium. As soccer balls are kicked into nets to score a goal, images of credit cards and messages from the ad’s narration appear.
Playing by Different Rules
“Free market competition – Main Street businesses do it every day and consumers are the winners,” the narrator states. “But what happens when we let credit card companies play by different rules? Americans pay the highest swipe fees in the world, up to 3% or more, nearly $1,000 a year in unfair hidden fees for families.”
“That’s why Main Street businesses and consumers support the Credit Card Competition Act,” the narration continues. “It takes free market competition to have fair fees.”
Visa is the “official payment technology partner” of FIFA and is heavily promoting its involvement in this year’s event in Doha, Qatar.