‘People shouldn’t decide how to invest based on movies’: Hollywood blockbuster inspires new ASIC campaign
ASIC has launched a new consumer awareness campaign today on the back of the release of a new Hollywood film.
The biographical-comedy, Dumb Money – which hits Australian cinemas today and stars big names like Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Shailene Woodley and Pete Davidson – follows the 2021 GameStop short squeeze. At that time, retail investors used social media to “short squeeze” the NYSE-listed GameStop to counteract short positions held by hedge funds. This resulted in GameStop’s share price grow by 2,000% in in January of that year, before most of these gains were lost the next month.
In response to the film, ASIC’s new campaign promotes the theme that consumers should not rely on social media for investment information.
In a first for the corporate regulator, the ad will play nationally at the beginning of each cinema screening of Dumb Money until the end of November.
“Films like this are great stories, but people shouldn’t decide whether and how to invest based on what they see in movies,” ASIC said in a statement given to Mumbrella on Thursday.
“That’s why we’re reminding people to invest in facts.”
ASIC CEO Warren Day said consumers “shouldn’t believe the hype,” arguing that if an investment sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
“First-time investors should be particularly cautious and aware of the inherent volatility and complexities of market trading,” Day said.
Speculative stocks, by nature, are high risk, high reward, with uncertain prospects. With high-risk investments, you should be prepared to lose all of your money.”
