A new business group led by Republican heavyweights will launch its first seven-figure ad campaign this week. The target: legislation taking aim at a key source of revenue for Visa and Mastercard.
The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce, which has branded itself as an alternative to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is hoping to gin up opposition to the Credit Card Competition Act, bipartisan legislation that targets the $77 billion banks and payment companies collect from merchants each year whenever consumers swipe their credit cards at checkout.
The bill, which has received support from big retailers like Walmart and Target, would require the biggest US banks to offer two competing networks on their cards that retailers could choose between for routing credit card purchases at their stores.
The satirical ad campaign features a town called
The ads will run nationwide for the next several weeks on streaming platforms including Hulu and Roku, as well as YouTube and Reddit.
The
Opponents of the Credit Card Competition Act claim that it could result in the elimination of credit cards' rewards systems because it would hurt a key source of revenue for Visa and Mastercard, which set the fees merchants are charged each time a consumer swipes one of their cards at checkout. Banks collect the bulk of these so-called swipe fees before handing over a slice to the two payments giants.
Merchants, though, say the legislation would allow them to lower the prices they charge consumers, a welcome reprieve with inflation running at 40-year highs.
"Would you want to live in a world without points?" asks a narrator in the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce ads.
— With assistance from Jenny Surane.
