![]() "There had been rumors going around that we had this ultra-exclusive black card for elite customers," says Doug Smith, director of American Express Europe. It is akin to having a personal concierge always on call. Someone from the service will even call to remind cardholders of upcoming anniversaries. They also receive assistance in securing hard-to-come-by tickets for popular events, reservations at trendy restaurants, and shopping for Christmas gifts. In exchange for its hefty annual fee (initially $1,000 US, but now $2,500), cardholders receive automatic upgrades on fifteen of the world's leading airlines. Available only by invitation to selected Platinum card members, this black credit card promises to simplify the lives of the harried rich. ![]() In 1999 American Express announced the introduction of its Centurion™ card. ![]() That 1988 Wall Street Journal article described the black card as "high-class ID for check-cashing" even as it made clear nothing could be charged on the card AmEx cardholders were still required to use their platinum, gold, or green cards to make purchases.) (It's possible AmEx issued a special card that wasn't a chargeplate to the super-privileged back in the 1980s. While people insist a few of those fabled cards were provided to the ultra-privileged (those who had millions of dollars in American Express bank accounts Imelda Marcos and the like) from 1984 to 1987, and a 1988 Wall Street Journal article appears to support that claim, whatever the truth about those chargeplates of lore, in 1999 the corporation finally bowed to the belief and began openly offering a real card at least somewhat in line with the rumor. Thus, thanks to the infamous $250 cookie recipe legend Neiman-Marcus now sells a chocolate chip cookie, and McDonald's (on behalf of its Ronald McDonald Houses) collects pull tabs for a charitableĪnother potential entry in this category is American Express, a company dogged for years by a rumor that it handed out black AmEx cards entitling holders to purchase anything up to jet fighters and beyond. Origins: Every now and then, a long-lived rumor spawns a real-life counterpart when someone in the business world comes to the startling realization that there is corporate gold to be mined by cashing in on what people are already committed to believing. ![]()
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