Oliver Haslam·

Reddit Bought A 5-Second Super Bowl Ad To Celebrate The GameStop Fiasco

Yesterday saw the Super Bowl take place and, as ever, all eyes were on the TV ads to see who had splashed the cash for a few seconds of airtime. One of the companies took people by surprise – and it bought just five seconds of ad time to do it.

Reddit is the company everyone has been talking about since it users banded together to turn GameSpot into the hottest stock around last week.

And while things have started to settle down over on r/WallStreetBets, Reddit wanted to celebrate the whole saga with an ad. But Super Bowl ads cost a lot of money. And five seconds was all the outfit could afford.

The result was a shortlived image appearing on screens. Blink, and you’d miss it. Pause it though, and you’ll get the following text.

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 anything when they come together around a common idea.

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.

The idea that people working together to accomplish something is obviously nothing new, of course. And while it’s a matter for debate whether the GameStop situation is the way they should be doing it, there’s little doubt that Reddit has the power to make things happen.

The real question is where it will turn its attentions next.

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