FCA commissions cinema ad ahead of GameStop movie to dissuade 'hype' investing

investmentweek.co.uk:

The ad forms part of the FCA’s ongoing InvestSmart campaign, which launched in 2021 and is set to run for five years in total, is focused on raising newer investors’ awareness to high-risk investments.

The ad forms part of the FCA's ongoing InvestSmart campaign — which launched in 2021 and is set to run for five years — and is focused on raising newer investors' awareness of high-risk investments.

The cinema ad references the chatroom and online forums which helped popularise the GameStop stock, featuring the line «it is easy to trust someone when you are caught in the hype», ending with the FCA's ‘Do not Get Played' campaign tagline.

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This marks the first time the FCA had deployed this style of ad, which it said would «raise awareness of the risk associated with investment hype», adding it can «help consumers understand the impact that hype can have on investment decisions and encourages them to carry out careful research if tempted by an opportunity they find online».

It will run in the final advertising slot prior to the film's start.

The film in question follows the story of the core players in the 2021 short squeeze on US video game retailer GameStop, which experienced a major rally, largely generated online on subreddit r/WallStreetBets forums by retail investors, at the expense of large institutional clients taking short positions on the company, such as hedge fund Melvin Capital.

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Emma Stranack, head of content and channels at the FCA, said: «The GameStop episode is a classic example of speculative investment driven by hype, and many investors suffered painful losses at the time.

»This new film