Why Is Matt Damon Shilling For Crypto? (nytimes.com) 108
If you've been watching any TV over the past few months, chances are you've seen Crypto.com's ad featuring Matt Damon. It's an expensive advertisement, complete with top-notch CGI and heady phrases like "History is filled with almosts" and "Fortune favors the brave." Jody Rosen dissects Damon's crypto push in a New York Times piece titled, "Why Is Matt Damon Shilling for Crypto? An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from the report:
The burden of spreading that gospel has been placed on the beefy shoulders of Matt Damon, whom Crypto.com hired as its "brand ambassador" in advance of a $100 million global marketing push. Damon is just the latest A-list star who has taken to hawking crypto. Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen have appeared in commercials for the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, a Crypto.com competitor in which they have an equity stake. On Twitter, Reese Witherspoon is a vocal booster ("Crypto is here to stay"), and Snoop Dogg, an NFT aficionado, offers investing advice ("Buy low stay high!"). There is something unseemly, to put it mildly, about the famous and fabulously wealthy urging crypto on their fans. Cryptocurrencies, after all, are in many cases not so much currencies as speculative thingamabobs -- digital tokens whose value is predicated largely on the idea that someone will take them off your hands at a higher price than it cost you to acquire them. Entertainers and athletes have ample money to risk in speculative bubbles; their millions of admirers don't have that luxury and may be left holding the bag when a bubble bursts. [...]
The cryptocurrency industry's marketing efforts are focused on young people, especially young men. Surveys have shown that some 40 percent of all American men ages 18 to 29 have invested in, traded or used a form of cryptocurrency. [...] Damon offers a particular kind of appeal to that demographic. His star power is based on brains and brawn; he can recite magniloquent phrases while also giving the impression that he could fillet an enemy, Jason Bourne style, armed with only a Bic pen. In the ad, his words are high-flown -- all that stuff about history and bravery -- but they amount to a macho taunt: If you're a real man, you'll buy crypto.
The bleakness of that pitch is startling. In recent weeks, while watching televised sports -- where the Crypto.com spot airs repeatedly, alongside commercials for other crypto platforms and an onslaught of ads for sports-gambling apps -- I could not shake the feeling that culture has taken a sinister turn: that we've sanctioned an economy in which tech start-ups compete, in broad daylight, to lure the vulnerable with get-rich-quick schemes. Yet what's most unsettling about the commercial is the pitch it doesn't make. Traditionally, an advertisement offers an affirmative case for its product, a vision of the fulfillment that will come if you wear those jeans or drive that truck. This ad doesn't bother. It shows a brief glimpse of a young couple locking eyes in a nightclub -- an insinuation, I guess, that crypto has sex appeal. But the ad builds inexorably toward that final shot of Mars, where Matt Damon's astronaut was marooned in a hit film and where Elon Musk, the world's second-richest man and a crypto enthusiast, says he plans to build a colony to survive the end of civilization on Earth. "We live in troubled times," writes Rosen in closing. "The young, in particular, may feel that they are peering over the edge, economically and existentially. This ad's message for them seems to be that the social compact is ruptured, that the old ideals of security and the good life no longer pertain."
"What's left are moonshots, big swings, high-stakes gambles. You might bet a long-shot parlay or take a flier on Dogecoin. Maybe someday you'll hitch a ride on Elon Musk's shuttle bus to the Red Planet. The ad holds out the promise of 'fortune,' but what it's really selling is danger, the dark and desperate thrills of precarity itself -- because, after all, what else have we got? You could call it truth in advertising."
The cryptocurrency industry's marketing efforts are focused on young people, especially young men. Surveys have shown that some 40 percent of all American men ages 18 to 29 have invested in, traded or used a form of cryptocurrency. [...] Damon offers a particular kind of appeal to that demographic. His star power is based on brains and brawn; he can recite magniloquent phrases while also giving the impression that he could fillet an enemy, Jason Bourne style, armed with only a Bic pen. In the ad, his words are high-flown -- all that stuff about history and bravery -- but they amount to a macho taunt: If you're a real man, you'll buy crypto.
The bleakness of that pitch is startling. In recent weeks, while watching televised sports -- where the Crypto.com spot airs repeatedly, alongside commercials for other crypto platforms and an onslaught of ads for sports-gambling apps -- I could not shake the feeling that culture has taken a sinister turn: that we've sanctioned an economy in which tech start-ups compete, in broad daylight, to lure the vulnerable with get-rich-quick schemes. Yet what's most unsettling about the commercial is the pitch it doesn't make. Traditionally, an advertisement offers an affirmative case for its product, a vision of the fulfillment that will come if you wear those jeans or drive that truck. This ad doesn't bother. It shows a brief glimpse of a young couple locking eyes in a nightclub -- an insinuation, I guess, that crypto has sex appeal. But the ad builds inexorably toward that final shot of Mars, where Matt Damon's astronaut was marooned in a hit film and where Elon Musk, the world's second-richest man and a crypto enthusiast, says he plans to build a colony to survive the end of civilization on Earth. "We live in troubled times," writes Rosen in closing. "The young, in particular, may feel that they are peering over the edge, economically and existentially. This ad's message for them seems to be that the social compact is ruptured, that the old ideals of security and the good life no longer pertain."
"What's left are moonshots, big swings, high-stakes gambles. You might bet a long-shot parlay or take a flier on Dogecoin. Maybe someday you'll hitch a ride on Elon Musk's shuttle bus to the Red Planet. The ad holds out the promise of 'fortune,' but what it's really selling is danger, the dark and desperate thrills of precarity itself -- because, after all, what else have we got? You could call it truth in advertising."
He understands it can be a good investment? (Score:1)
Re: He understands it can be a good investment? (Score:2)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=... [youtube.com]
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Matt Damon had advocated for the Green New Deal and other expensive and intrusive government action on climate change. So it is profoundly hypocritical of him to now be cashing in by shilling for environmentally destructive crypto.
Re: He understands it can be a good investment? (Score:2)
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I doubt he would star in a paid NRA commercial regardless of what they would pay him.
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You say that like they are different things
A shitload of money, of course (Score:5, Informative)
Which other reason were you expecting? Crypto.com is spending a LOT of money in advertising - ads with Matt Damon, F1 sponsorships, staduim naming deals, you name it.
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it would be nice to be able to say its because he is not a good person, but this isnt really evidence of that.. the fact that he really isnt a good person is only coincidental
The only reason: (Score:1, Insightful)
Yup - the only reason to enlist A-list stars and spend so much money on advertising is because they need to pump the product, as it can't stand on its own.
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Exactly. The rapid rise of cryptocurrencies are leading to basically companies that got in early and now having more money than sense.
It's effectively a bunch of people suddenly got rich quick. What happens when you give someone a huge sum of money? They go nuts spending it.
The problem is, though, if they run out of money and it all falls apart. Which is why most lottery winners end up even deeper in debt 5 years after winning the jackpot.
Face it - if he really believed in the product, he'd be compensated i
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Well, the value is falling now. So they are spending on propaganda to try to keep it up, so they don't lose even more.
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There's only thing we can be certain of... this is still not the year of the Linux desktop.
Simple (Score:5, Insightful)
He's an actor getting paid to act. This has been going on since the dawn of Hollywood. This article must have been written by a millennial with no understanding of history.
Re:Simple (Score:5, Interesting)
Actors doing adverts are selected to be very low profile so they blend in and you won't notice how it's the same person advertising cookies, shampoo, and something else. You're not supposed to recognize them, you're supposed to fix your attention on the product.
A famous choose the movies he participates in to build his own image, and appearing in an advert is not anymore acting, it's part of a branding operation. Think of George Clooney in coffee ads. A famous actor putting his good name behind a coffee brand or a crypto website will have his name tied the product basically forever. It's not a trivial choice.
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Neh, if the brand tanks they will just to another brand, possibly competing, and move on. Perhaps they will make some excuse how they were naive before, or misinformed, or cheated, or found out new information which made the feel the moral obligation to push the next brand instead. The only thing which keeps celebrities pushing the same brand is money (or contract clauses for which they have accepted money in the past). Once that dries up, they move on. Remember the "can you hear me now" Verizon ad guy who
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Same as the "influencers" in social media.
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I think you're vastly overestimating how much a celebrity endorsement affects their image.
Alex Trebek spent the last decade of his life hawking reverse mortgages to seniors. As most people know reverse-mortgages are largely a scam to get homes from seniors for a fraction of their actual worth. Yet when Trebek died I don't think I saw a single article blaming him for this work.
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Re: Simple (Score:2)
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Which again raises the question of why Matt Damon is advertising for crypto?
I'm sure they're paying him a lot... but it's not going to be as much as the paycheck for his next few movies. If crypto takes a hard crash in the next few years and retail investors start getting wiped out then there's going to be serious blowback on everyone giving these endorsements. Even now crypto has a real sketchy reputation. This deal could easily cost Matt Damon more than he's getting paid (not to mention the damage to his
This is something that bugs me (Score:3)
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we keep electing actors to high office when they're literally somebody who make a living convincing you there's something they're not.
Politicians do exactly the same thing.
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If someone says he has more brawn than brains, he most likely has more brains than you have brawn.
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He's an actor getting paid to act.
Nailed it.
Now I wonder when today's generation is going to wake up about the paid actors in Congress.
I'm CMDR Shepard and this is my favourite store... (Score:2)
He's an actor getting paid to act.
This, they paid Matt Damon to do what Matt Damon gets paid to do.
For money of course (Score:2)
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I would shill for the Devil himself if you offered me enough cash.
And that would be why self-respect is a thing.
Or not, as the case may be.
Re:For money of course (Score:5, Insightful)
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If you are dumb enough to take advise from...
* advice
Kind of ironic, huh?
Re:For money of course (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re: For money of course (Score:2)
Shall we list the celebrities that endorsed Joe Biden?
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If you are dumb enough to take advise from paid actors then the problem isn't the actor, it is you!.
A bit like taking spelling advice from /.ers.
Sarcasm aside, yes that point is solid. If I want acting advice I'll talk to Matt Damon... If I want investment advice I'll talk to an investment fund manager.
The problem is this kind of thing works. A lot of gullible people will think a celebrity is actually telling them to do something, other gullible people will think that "because they can afford Matt Damon, it must work" without realising that you can pay actors with huge amounts of debt.
To capitalize on FOMO (Score:4)
He's an actor. Actors act. As in make people believe they're a fictional character, but that seems real to people. And the people start believing. And he's being paid to do it.
Perhaps you've heard the phrase that starts with "A fool and his money...."
Re:To capitalize on FOMO (Score:5, Informative)
All of Crypto is based on the "Greater Fool" theory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Video is long but definitely worth watching before you decide to spend $20,000 on an NFT / GIF.
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Yes, but so is everything else.
urgh. this fucking trope again.
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One good trope deserves another.
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How does that differ from "all of fiat" being based on the same idea, but without any guarantee of scarcity or security?
It's not hard (Score:3)
I'll answer that question, for money.
I'd expect ... (Score:3)
Wait! What am I thinking?
"News" (Score:1)
the new heroin (Score:3)
Crypto is capitalism's heroin. The more people they get hooked into it, the more money they make.
So what if a lot of the "little people" lose everything... they were weak. "Fortune favors the brave."
Big Pharma move over.
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That sounds identical to a MLM or pyramid scheme.
Re: the new heroin (Score:2)
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Inflation-adjusted home prices are higher now than ever:
https://dqydj.com/historical-h... [dqydj.com]
Even if you bought the peak in ~2007, you could still sell today at a profit. So, yes, while real estate did go down temporarily, it also went back up . . .
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But it is the point. The only way you're going to lose money is to sell short.
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To be fair, Investing in the SP500 would have returned ~264k dollars more than holding your home from Jan 07 to Aug 21, inflation adjusted:
https://dqydj.com/sp-500-retur... [dqydj.com]
So yes, if you held onto your home for 15ish years you would be slightly positive after inflation (~50k) but the SP500's ~320k return dwarfs it. You might argue rent vs buy logic, and I get it, but it very well depends where you live and what your rent was. By my quick off the cuff estimates if you averaged 1k in rent per month and save
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Yes, this is true. Still, the notion of actual monetary losses in the real estate market is but an illusion created by short-sightedness.
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"...Itâ(TM)s also not regulated "
Yeah, and that's why people lose their shirts when a project is rugged.
To make money? (Score:1)
This is my guess... (Score:3, Informative)
I guess he's probably shilling for crypto.com because they're giving in a shitpile of money.
Re: your mom (Score:1)
This guy thinks... (Score:2)
I'm holding off for TulipCoin or CrypTulip (Score:4, Insightful)
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It's a warning. (Score:5, Interesting)
"History is filled with almosts" and "Fortune favors the brave."
Despite the usual optimistic outlook, these two phrases are a grave warning about survivor bias. "History is filled with almosts" tells you that many have put everything they had into efforts and still they failed while "Fortune favors the brave" is the flip-side of this saying those who succeed are merely those who survive and therefore remembered AKA survival of the fittest.
While it wasn't intentional, these advertisements are warnings of dire consequences and the unlikeliness of success.
Somebody noticed that Elon Musk has a tell (Score:2)
Every time you heard that phrase from Elon you knew that whatever he was pitching was going to be a massive failure that he made a ton of money off of.
As for why, I think it's because that phrase implies that everything he says is going to be a matter of his personal opinion and not explicit financial advice. It's meant to absolve him from liability. So far
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Wait! Wait! Hold on! (Score:2)
It's almost like you're saying I should not take legal advice from strangers on the internet. ;)
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If you dissect these statements logically, it's even simpler than this:
"history is filled with almosts" states the fact than many have tried and failed miserably.
"fortune favors the brave" is an obvious and redundant statement.
If I rewrite the very same statements for a lottery:
"history is filled with people who almost won the lottery, only a few numbers or two off the jackpot"
"fortune in lotteries favors people who spen
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They have the same meaning but it's less apparent how you have written it... which is the point I was making.
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I could be even more blunt:
"History is filled with gamblers which almost won but lost it all instead"
"Fortune favors gamblers because you cannot win if you don't play"
Personally I think the above perfectly applies to bitcoin "investors".
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"Fortune favors gamblers because you cannot win if you don't play"
"Fortune favors the casino because they will not win if you do not play but you might win too"
This seems more accurate.
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Fortune favours the brave clearly means that being "brave" increases your chance of good fortune.
Yes, a snowball's chance in jell is better than no chance at all. They projected the possibility of success but merely a possibility and omit that it is only a remote possibility. It does require external knowledge to understand it's a statement of survivor bias.
As all the responses say, he does it to make money (Score:1)
Is that irony or what?
It's probably a better investment than Florida oranges
I'm worried about (Score:2)
Shilling for crypto ... (Score:3)
The Gipper Approves (Score:2)
Ronald Reagan did a years-long advertising campaign for Chesterfield cigarettes.
https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
Why? (Score:1)
Next we'll be asking why actors/celebrities become Presidents. It's because people are dumb enough to trust them.
Why is anyone shilling for crypto? (Score:2)
This ad's message for them seems to be that the social compact is ruptured, that the old ideals of security and the good life no longer pertain.
Of course that's true. Manufacturing is dying, and Silicon Valley only creates stupid, trendy crap that has no real value.
Why? (Score:2)
Isn't it obvious?
Matt Damon is an actor, he is being paid to star in an advertisement and use his name to promote a product. He's simply doing his job.
It's an ad (Score:2)
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The Times is hiring children now? (Score:2)
Why is he doing it? Because he's paid celebrity spokesperson. Why are they paying him? Because celebrity endorsements work well enough to justify the expense. Why did Jody feel the need to explain and criticize the concept of celebrity endorsements? Because she is an idiot. Three obvious answers to questions she shouldn't have been paid for raising.
Don't feel bad for the vulnerable (Score:2)
I don't know if the rule changed, but earlier IPOs required you to have a certain net worth to participate in the IPO. Essentially, the rich get richer and everyone else is locked out. State lotteries have been profiting off the poor for a long time. They control the returns and essentially guarantee that you will lose ~50% of what you bet with the slimmest chance to get a huge win. Then if you do win, they'll take a large portion of that back in taxes. Given the choice of scratch offs, televangelists and t
Because... (Score:2)
Because...
1. Someone paid him.
2. It will impress his friends.
that's exactly what's happening (Score:2)
"We live in troubled times," writes Rosen in closing. "The young, in particular, may feel that they are peering over the edge, economically and existentially. This ad's message for them seems to be that the social compact is ruptured, that the old ideals of security and the good life no longer pertain."
"What's left are moonshots, big swings, high-stakes gambles. You might bet a long-shot parlay or take a flier on Dogecoin. Maybe someday you'll hitch a ride on Elon Musk's shuttle bus to the Red Planet. The a
Forbid (Score:2)