Hasta la vista Howard….

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, and this is truly awful news, but Howard Brown, stalwart of many an all singing, all dancing Halifax TV advertising campaign, is to be axed.

If you’re not already familiar with Howard, then you probably don’t own a TV (I’m talking to the residents of Diss here). He’s the guy from the Halifax ‘staff as stars’ TV ads, big round glasses, occasionally seen surfing or rapping in a thick brummy accent about ISAs. You know the guy right?

Well, not anymore, because once this Halifax Regular Savers campaign is over and done with, he’ll be banished from our screens forever.

Good times.

It gets better though. Not only is Howard being consigned to the ‘was funny for five minutes but quickly got pull your fingernails out annoying’ scrapheap along with the Crazy Frog and Barry Scott from the Cillit Bang ads, but his cripplingly irritating friends are going to be joining him there also.

Great times.

Yes, ‘can’t quite master the Mexican wave’ guy from the current ad, big girl who likes to murder Aretha Franklin classics, and the especially obnoxious little berk from the beach ad are all being benched in favour of campaigns described by Halifax as ‘taking a whole new direction’.

Here’s the punch line. These ads, despite casting employees as actors, cost Halifax £18 million a year.

Golden times.