No amount of advertising can repair the damage for some financial institutions.

In this week’s The Economist magazine, the powerful cover image (left) shows the cyclone sucking up brand names like Fannie Mae, AIG, Morgan Stanley, Washington Mutual, Lehman Brothers and … Merill Lynch.

But the bull got sucked into the swirl by another means. Its full page ad inside (probably scheduled and printed before the news stories were laid out) ran with this copy:

“Merrill Lynch connects capital to opportunity…”Our 94-year history of leadership in the financial industry has been a source of confidence for our clients in both good and challenging markets.”