Reddit has released an unexpected Super Bowl advert referencing the r/WallStreetBets subreddit that recently caused the financial world to sit up and take notice after users started buying up stocks in companies like GameStop to 'short squeeze' a load of financial fat cats.
Advert
The advert, which was only a five second spot, started like a lot of other Super Bowl adverts, with some cars gliding along a road, before cutting off abruptly.
Then, some text flashes up on the screen. It reads: "Wow, this actually worked. If you're reading this, it means our bet paid off.
"Big game spots are expensive, so we couldn't buy a full one. But we were inspired and decided to spend our entire marketing budget on 5 seconds of airtime.
"One thing we learned from our communities last week is that underdogs can accomplish just about anything when they come together around a common idea."
Obviously, this is a not-so-veiled reference to the events of the last week, during which the members of a Reddit community realised that several high-wealth companies were attempting to 'short' the stock of game retailer GameStop and other companies and decided to bump up the price by buying stock and driving it skywards.
There's a lot going on in the tale, and it's still really ongoing, so we'll not get too deep into it now, but it's fascinating.
The text abruptly shown on the screen during their Super Bowl spot continued: "Who knows, maybe you'll be the reason finance textbooks have to add a chapter on 'tendies.'
"Maybe you'll help r/SuperbOwl teach the world about the majesty of owls.
"Maybe you'll even pause this 5-second ad.
"Powerful things happen when people rally around something they really care about. And there's a place for that. It's called Reddit."
Fair play, they've got a lot of great publicity this week, and this will only continue the more they keep spending money in this way - both those on the site and those in charge of the advertising budget.
This particular spot has proven popular, too.
One person commented: "Had to rewind it twice to read. I thought the aliens had taken over the TV..lol"
Another said: "This has been my favorite commercial so far!!"
Perhaps they'll be able to pay for their next spot on American sport's big day in Dogecoin. In these strange times, anything at all could happen, and probably will.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: SPORT, World News, Money, Interesting, US News, Reddit, US Entertainment, Weird, super bowl
