What's obscene? That we allow ANY advertising for strongly addictive, life-wrecking activities. In the UK, tons of gambling advertising now saturates the streams, indicating what? THAT HUGE HUGE PROFITS are from this shit are being shared with politicians who set the rules.
In 2014 I invested $5 in Bitcoin. Every time it got to $10, I sold and reinvested $5. Today my total capital is $83, due probably as much to inflation as anything else. But like a lottery ticket, it’s just a way to lose money. You’re absolutely right. I tried it mostly to give myself an incentive to pay attention to it, and ended up writing a novel in which a young California kid cracks a crypto gang trying to take over the world’s money flow. All fun, instructive, etc., writing for me…not sure the premise was any better understood than Bitcoin itself.
So thanks for making the scam clear. Everybody falls for Bernie Madoff sooner or later. I, too, thought Matt Damon was a better guy than this.
Sorry, Mindy, but I'm fairly sure Matt and Ben did actually write Good Will Hunting in the back room of Chez Jay bar and restaurant in Santa Monica. (I documented it as part of getting Chez Jay landmarked so the city couldn't sell their lease to a crappy chain restaurant. Not true that the Pentagon Papers were transferred there. True that Secret Service agents waited there while JFK met up with Marilyn Monroe.) That doesn't excuse signing on to ruin people's lives and enrich horrible people by promoting gambling in the worst way imaginable.
I'm not a sports guy, so I haven't seen either of these commercials, but I know the type. Maybe it's regional. Here, near Chicago, I've seen Neil Patrick Harris shilling for some crypto thing. They show him on a stage, of all places, where there's also a contraption that looks like an ATM. He's pitter-pattering about how easy it is to invest in crypto, then put a $10 bill in the machine, and a screen lights up saying he just bought crypto! Of course, nothing comes out of the machine, and the dubious screen message seems to imply that your money is now CRYPTO!!!, but that's it. I have a low opinion of "celebrities," especially those that clearly don't NEED the money, to be involved in bullshit like this. Just HEARING about Damon and Affleck doing this brings them both down a notch or two for me.
And don't even get me started on the sports betting advertising: Draft Kings and the like. Every time I see them, they either feature the "free" first bet, and/or some beautiful scantily clad young blond woman telling you, with bedroom eyes/voice, just how wonderful it is to bet on stuff and WIN! All I think is what a boon these commercials and "services" are for Gamblers Anonymous.
Unless it's owned by Donald Trump, then it grifts, cheats, steals, and lies about how much it's winning. And when the House finally folds due to the gold-plating of everything in sight, and that even daddy's money ran out, it is imploded in a glorious demolition available to watch endlessly on YouTube.
Reading through the comments and Lost in America came to mind. Have you seen it? I wonder if it’s still as funny as I thought it was back then? Speaking of Mel Brooks films I loved The Producers! Max Bialiystock and Leo Bloom craziest characters, hubby and I adored it. I guess as far as Matt and Ben go do they need the money that they made from commercials? Hard to swallow that they actually believe in the integrity of the products they’re shilling for. As always enjoyed your article.
Been thinking about this for a few days. So glad someone is noticing the toxic advertising that is permeating the airways. You addressed a specific toxic brew, but there are so many encroaching on our lives every day. I became advertising resistant while still on FB. I resist any "suggestion" from the powers that be, "influencers" or moron celebrities. If I see something that I have the slightest interest in, I will approach it from a different direction. I NEVER respond to an ad on FB, Amazon, or any such platform. The MSM is as bad as social media, There are infomercials (Prevagen, bathroom redos, etc) ad nauseam. Even PBS is advertising BS. I remember the days when they eschewed such, also didn't have to "beg" non stop until republicans ditched their funding. When I read that space is the next advertising medium, I wanted aliens to take us over. Thank you for calling attention to this topic. If respected actors are shills, what next? I shudder to think what is in store for the young who have never experienced a different world.
Dunno if you know, Greg, but there's a real-life experiment happening right now between bitcoin and U.S. government-backed currency.
That's happening in El Salvador, where, thanks to the shilling of autocratic doucheBro president Nayib Bukele, bitcoin has been legal tender for about 4 months now—alongside the U.S. dollar, which was the only official currency of El Salvador from 2001 until this past September.
Unsurprisingly, the public is on your side of this one, preferring the dollar 93 to 7 (...and if anything that's an underestimate, given the vagaries of polling in an autocratic state). The state-run exchange that's supposed to let Salvadorans smoothly trade between the two has been a fiasco so far, too... but none of that is stopping Bukele from planning bigger, better, and more unhinged things, such as a proposed bitcoin-only tourist city at the base of a volcano (planned to have a perfectly round footprint, like—you guessed it—a bitcoin! Who wants to tell Bukele that a bitcoin doesn't have any physical geometry at all?)
You'll be shocked, shocked!, to find out that Bukele's government has done additional buys of bitcoin that have not been accounted for on the public ledger. It's almost as though the whole thing is just a magnet for grifters, on top of the hardcore money-launderers.
<rant warning>
What's obscene? That we allow ANY advertising for strongly addictive, life-wrecking activities. In the UK, tons of gambling advertising now saturates the streams, indicating what? THAT HUGE HUGE PROFITS are from this shit are being shared with politicians who set the rules.
</rant>
One of your better columns.
In 2014 I invested $5 in Bitcoin. Every time it got to $10, I sold and reinvested $5. Today my total capital is $83, due probably as much to inflation as anything else. But like a lottery ticket, it’s just a way to lose money. You’re absolutely right. I tried it mostly to give myself an incentive to pay attention to it, and ended up writing a novel in which a young California kid cracks a crypto gang trying to take over the world’s money flow. All fun, instructive, etc., writing for me…not sure the premise was any better understood than Bitcoin itself.
So thanks for making the scam clear. Everybody falls for Bernie Madoff sooner or later. I, too, thought Matt Damon was a better guy than this.
Dayum, Greg. What subject do you NOT write about? Very interesting fo sho.
Sorry, Mindy, but I'm fairly sure Matt and Ben did actually write Good Will Hunting in the back room of Chez Jay bar and restaurant in Santa Monica. (I documented it as part of getting Chez Jay landmarked so the city couldn't sell their lease to a crappy chain restaurant. Not true that the Pentagon Papers were transferred there. True that Secret Service agents waited there while JFK met up with Marilyn Monroe.) That doesn't excuse signing on to ruin people's lives and enrich horrible people by promoting gambling in the worst way imaginable.
I'm not a gambler, thus would have never known ANY of this but for your excellent reveal. Thank you!
The Crip, indeed
Greg, I have shared your suspicions and belief of the fraud and opportunism in these scams. PT Barnum lives on, "there's a sucker born every minute!"
I'm not a sports guy, so I haven't seen either of these commercials, but I know the type. Maybe it's regional. Here, near Chicago, I've seen Neil Patrick Harris shilling for some crypto thing. They show him on a stage, of all places, where there's also a contraption that looks like an ATM. He's pitter-pattering about how easy it is to invest in crypto, then put a $10 bill in the machine, and a screen lights up saying he just bought crypto! Of course, nothing comes out of the machine, and the dubious screen message seems to imply that your money is now CRYPTO!!!, but that's it. I have a low opinion of "celebrities," especially those that clearly don't NEED the money, to be involved in bullshit like this. Just HEARING about Damon and Affleck doing this brings them both down a notch or two for me.
And don't even get me started on the sports betting advertising: Draft Kings and the like. Every time I see them, they either feature the "free" first bet, and/or some beautiful scantily clad young blond woman telling you, with bedroom eyes/voice, just how wonderful it is to bet on stuff and WIN! All I think is what a boon these commercials and "services" are for Gamblers Anonymous.
"The House always wins."
Unless it's owned by Donald Trump, then it grifts, cheats, steals, and lies about how much it's winning. And when the House finally folds due to the gold-plating of everything in sight, and that even daddy's money ran out, it is imploded in a glorious demolition available to watch endlessly on YouTube.
Man, this is like the good old days when Esquire permitted comments on Charlie Pierce's blog. I gotta tell all my friends from those days.
Reading through the comments and Lost in America came to mind. Have you seen it? I wonder if it’s still as funny as I thought it was back then? Speaking of Mel Brooks films I loved The Producers! Max Bialiystock and Leo Bloom craziest characters, hubby and I adored it. I guess as far as Matt and Ben go do they need the money that they made from commercials? Hard to swallow that they actually believe in the integrity of the products they’re shilling for. As always enjoyed your article.
Been thinking about this for a few days. So glad someone is noticing the toxic advertising that is permeating the airways. You addressed a specific toxic brew, but there are so many encroaching on our lives every day. I became advertising resistant while still on FB. I resist any "suggestion" from the powers that be, "influencers" or moron celebrities. If I see something that I have the slightest interest in, I will approach it from a different direction. I NEVER respond to an ad on FB, Amazon, or any such platform. The MSM is as bad as social media, There are infomercials (Prevagen, bathroom redos, etc) ad nauseam. Even PBS is advertising BS. I remember the days when they eschewed such, also didn't have to "beg" non stop until republicans ditched their funding. When I read that space is the next advertising medium, I wanted aliens to take us over. Thank you for calling attention to this topic. If respected actors are shills, what next? I shudder to think what is in store for the young who have never experienced a different world.
Dunno if you know, Greg, but there's a real-life experiment happening right now between bitcoin and U.S. government-backed currency.
That's happening in El Salvador, where, thanks to the shilling of autocratic doucheBro president Nayib Bukele, bitcoin has been legal tender for about 4 months now—alongside the U.S. dollar, which was the only official currency of El Salvador from 2001 until this past September.
Unsurprisingly, the public is on your side of this one, preferring the dollar 93 to 7 (...and if anything that's an underestimate, given the vagaries of polling in an autocratic state). The state-run exchange that's supposed to let Salvadorans smoothly trade between the two has been a fiasco so far, too... but none of that is stopping Bukele from planning bigger, better, and more unhinged things, such as a proposed bitcoin-only tourist city at the base of a volcano (planned to have a perfectly round footprint, like—you guessed it—a bitcoin! Who wants to tell Bukele that a bitcoin doesn't have any physical geometry at all?)
You'll be shocked, shocked!, to find out that Bukele's government has done additional buys of bitcoin that have not been accounted for on the public ledger. It's almost as though the whole thing is just a magnet for grifters, on top of the hardcore money-launderers.