Halifax's Howard Brown is the latest victim of the credit crunch as the bank is reportedly seeking a more serious image in financially uncertain times.
Mr Brown has starred in the bank's television advertising campaigns since 2000 and has become famous for his cheerful reworded versions of songs, such as the Tom Jones hit Sex Bomb.
Halifax even created a computer-generated version of Mr Brown to project a friendlier image of the bank.
However, HBOS-owned Halifax is now looking to adopt a more serious tone in the economic downturn.
Dan Shute, the director of the Halifax account at advertising firm DLKW, told the Independent: "The financial world is very different in 2008 from the one that we started working with in the year 2000, so a change was necessary. But it would be wrong to suggest that this is a reassurance campaign from Halifax – it's just recognising that times have changed."
It could also mean the end of the line for other staff who were used in the bank's 'employees as stars' campaign.
Halifax has refused to confirm or deny the reports, saying it was too early to comment.
Digg 
Delicious 
Reddit 
StumbleUpon 
Google 
Technorati 
Netvouz