RACHEL RICKARD STRAUS: A film about a payday lender? I Wonga what you were thinking
On Monday night Wonga premiered its 28-minute film - 12 Portraits - about some of its customers. It will pay to show in some cinemas and on Channel 4 before Christmas. Rachel Rickard Straus went along to the premiere in London's West End, and spoke to some of its stars...
You may be pleased to hear no puppets feature in Wonga the Movie. When I heard the payday lender was making its first foray into filmmaking, I admit I imagined a feature length drama about the exploits of pensioner Errol and his granny sidekicks.
In fact Wonga was at great pains at the premiere in London on Monday night to emphasise that no puppets were used in the making of the film.
It gave BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Gary Tarn free rein to make the film – Wonga would have no editorial control.
![In charge: Filmmaker Gary Tarn said he was given full editorial control](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/11/06/article-2488265-1938F79B00000578-337_634x391.jpg)
In charge: Filmmaker Gary Tarn said he was given full editorial control
All it asked for was a film to give a voice to what it called the ‘silent majority’ of its customers who it says have a good experience of its service.
What Tarn came up with was a series of 12 portraits of real Wonga borrowers talking about their passions.
Customers included a mother of four who talks about how much she loves her family; a student from London about his passion for music; a foster parent from Swindon about her love of football.
Wonga was keen to emphasise it wasn’t pulling their strings either – the 12 stars of the film were picked by Tarn ‘from a database’ and were not paid for featuring.
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But even more noticeably absent than puppets in ‘12 Portraits’ was the absence of Wonga.
The lender was not mentioned once throughout the film.
To ethereal xylophone-heavy music the 12 subjects talked about football, singing, hairdressing. But not Wonga.
It is hard to see how Wonga hopes to challenge the public perception of the company without even mentioning it, let alone offering an alternative view.
No one doubts that Wonga customers are ‘ordinary British people’ – I don’t think we need a film to remind us about that.
The public debate around Wonga is not critical of Wonga customers – it’s critical of Wonga.
And where Wonga customers are ever questioned it is only in relation to their interactions with Wonga – never about their attitudes to football or singing.
Tarn explained that you could read on the website about the 12 subjects and their experiences with Wonga.
But a documentary doesn’t seem like much of a documentary if you have to go and look up the answers afterwards on the website.
![Artsy: 12 Portraits features a dozen Wonga customers talking about their passions](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/11/06/article-2488265-1938F79F00000578-565_634x404.jpg)
Artsy: 12 Portraits features a dozen Wonga customers talking about their passions
And in the meantime extracting any mention of Wonga in the film relieves Tarn of having to address any of the difficult subjects: sky-high interest rates, accusations of 'normalising' short-term lending through advertising, the difficulties some people face after trying to fix debt problems with more debt.
It also allowed him scope to make a relatively artsy film - seemingly right on message for Wonga, which seems to be fighting to distinguish itself from other more gimicky and unsavoury lenders. Through rebranding itself as a short-term, not a payday, lender it appears to be repositioning itself as the lender of choice for discerning borrowers - and not for those who are desperate or in financial difficulties.
It’s going to take more than PR, puppets and premieres for Wonga to change the public debate.
Already yesterday Ed Miliband reclaimed Wonga’s ‘silent majority’ catchphrase and spat it back at them.
‘Payday lenders don’t speak for the silent majority,’ he said yesterday. ‘They are responsible for a quiet crisis of thousands of families trapped in unpayable debt.’
He went on: ‘The Wonga economy is one of the worst symbols of this cost of living crisis.’
As soon as the media stops receiving emails, calls and letters from desperate readers in insurmountable debt because of a loan that went wrong, or with money taken from their bank without permission from a lender, then we will stop writing about them.
This will be the best PR for Wonga.
Debt and consumer charities don't have large marketing budgets to give voice to the hundreds of people who get in touch every year to seek help with payday loans that have gone wrong.
These are the silent sufferers who need to be listened to.
But it was the ‘silent majority’ featured in the film who did the best PR for Wonga on Monday night – even though they weren’t given a voice to talk about the lender in the film.
Adam Cinelioglu, one of the film’s subjects, told me of his gratitude towards Wonga for ‘bailing him out’. He borrowed £400 to help fund his music business course at university while he waited for payment from his part-time job.
‘I could have asked friends or family but I’m trying to do this myself,’ he said. Adam has not told his family about the film – he hopes to give his mum a surprise when she sees him on the telly – the film is due to be aired on channel four.
![Sticking to the small screen: Wonga's puppets did not feature in the film](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/11/06/article-2488265-130AF872000005DC-322_634x361.jpg)
Sticking to the small screen: Wonga's puppets did not feature in the film
Then there was Simon Colligan from Luton who went to pay for petrol for his motorbike at 2am one morning and realised that bill payments had been taken early, leaving him short. He used the Wonga app to top up an existing loan by £30 and repaid it all three days later.
I also spoke to Daniella, whose fiancé Shane borrowed £75 to throw her a surprise 21st birthday party.
She was thrilled to be at the premiere to have the chance to be ‘a movie star for the day’.
‘Are you writing about the film?,’ she asks me. When I say yes she said ‘well tell them from me, it’s fantastic’. So there you go.
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