Spike Lee’s TV commercial for crypto portrays it as new money for a diverse world

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Spike Lees’ new ad titled The Currency of Currency launched online today, and the two-minute spot describes crypto as the new currency for a diverse world.

The 64-year-old Oscar-winning filmmaker has directed and starred in the commercial for crypto provider ATM Coin Cloud, and in the commercial he explores themes such as racial and financial inequalities, diversity and inclusiveness.

Old money, as rich as it looks, is dead broke, says Lee, adding that they call it green, but it’s only white because he cites the lack of diversity in the people depicted on them. US dollar banknotes and coins. While the commercial had previously been touted as a Bitcoin ad, BTC is not mentioned by name in the ad at all. Instead, the concept of crypto in general is called fresh money.

The ad has a loose reference to Bitcoin via a Coin Cloud ATM that features the BTC logo, but company ATMs support more than 30 digital assets.

The ad was created in conjunction with marketing and advertising agency Campbell Ewald, and features guest appearances by actor and activist Kendrick Sampson, singer-songwriter Teyana Talyor, and Ru Pauls Drag Race contestant. Shangela and Emmy-nominated Pose star MJ Rodriquez.

In the ad, Lee cites problems with fiat and traditional banks and notes that there are 7 million unbanked and 20 million underbanked Americans.

NEW: First Look at Spike Lee’s Bitcoin Advertising

Old money is not going to pick us up, it pushes us down, exploits us and oppresses us systematically. The digital rebellion is here. The old money is OUT, the new money is IN. “Pic.twitter.com/eD1nCenXBX

Yano (@JasonYanowitz) July 14, 2021

Old money is not going to pick us up, it pushes us down, exploits us and oppresses us systematically, he says. The filmmaker describes new money as positive, inclusive, fluid and very culturally rich.

Related: Bitcoin Has Helped The Unbanked. Now this project also helps them get justice

Lee is known to explore social and racial issues in his films, and the spot’s identity politics theme has met with mixed reactions online.

In response to the “Documenting Bitcoins” article on ad user “The LogicalShaman” said that talking about race at the start is super cheesy, while Bruce Fenton of Watchdog Capital said “Spike Lee cares more about the color of people’s skin that he doesn’t care about #Bitcoin. “

However, Analytics4Bitcoin responded that they liked that more people felt included in the Bitcoin ecosystem, and added that:

Lots of focus on the negatives of the community, but look around and what you see is a really diverse collection of millions of people around the world looking for better money. Awesome!

Coin Cloud noted in a July 14 press release that the company wanted to spark important dialogue from this ad campaign and chose Lee specifically for his expertise in exploring social issues.

“His deep connection to communities of color, as well as his experience in contextualizing equality issues, make him an ideal partner for our goal of making digital currency accessible to all,” said Amondo Redmond, Director of Marketing global at Coin Cloud.

The Coin Clouds ad campaign will air nationwide on cable TV channels such as Comedy Central and Adult Swim, and will also appear on social media platforms such as Youtube and Reddit.

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