Super Bowl LII, the US NFL championship game played yesterday, Feb. 4 between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots, featured a television ad from brokerage firm TD Ameritrade that advertised Bitcoin (BTC) futures.
Singer Lionel Richie appeared in the US-based brokerage firm’s ad describing a customer’s ability to trade 24 hours a day, 5 days a week while, frustratingly, avoiding using the title of his 1983 hit song, “All Night Long (All Night).”
The ad, which played immediately after the national anthem, ended with the company’s logo and the phrase, “Bitcoin futures available. Fiesta forever”:
Super Bowl ads have become a tradition separate from the football game, with viewers expecting companies to make their ads more entertaining, filled with more celebrities, and extra thought-provoking every year. Time Magazine reports that a 30-second Super Bowl ad now costs around $5 mln.
Bitcoin futures trading is relatively new in the world markets, with CBOE launching the first BTC futures contract in December 2017 and experiencing an immediate website crash due to high traffic. CME Group launched the world’s second BTC futures contract shortly after CBOE’s, also in December 2017.