Reddit had a Super Bowl ad moment on Sunday reflecting on its role in the GameStop and Robinhood stock saga.
It wasn’t a true Super Bowl ad, but like many brands have done in the past, Reddit bought a regional spot that appeared in regional markets including New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Typically, those ads don’t get the attention of a full-fledged Super Bowl commercial, but given Reddit’s involvement in one of the biggest Wall Street moments of the past decade, its ad deserves some consideration.
“One thing that we learned from our communities last week is that underdogs can accomplish just about anything when they come around a common idea,” Reddit’s ad said.
In true hacker fashion, the ad was only about five seconds long. Reddit said it didn’t have the money for a $5.5 million national spot, but still wanted a voice during the biggest live event of the year. The ad started briefly with cars racing across a desert, before cutting to the Reddit logo, and then there was a simple message, which viewers would have to pause to read. It referenced the events of the past month, during which a Reddit forum sprung into internet stardom for its role in a wild stock gamble.