Investing isn't gambling, it's about the thrill of victory

Investing isn't gambling, it's about the thrill of victory - go on and risk everything!

Fidelity just released what I think is one of the best, yet at the same time worst, commercials ever.

"Today is the day" is a commercial for their trading services (ie. investing) and the theme is clearly that investing is a 'game' and that it's all about the 'thrill of winning'. While they don't use those words, the theme is clear.

It's one of the best ads in the sense that it makes you want to go gamble. You can imagine yourself taking on the markets and raising your fist in victory like the guy in the commercial.

It's one of the worst (most socially irresponsible) ads because it makes you want to go gamble! Especially given this is the worst time ever to be investing in my opinion (much less trading).

Investing (use to be) about diversification and using savings to generate a consistent return on capital to help people enjoy a better retirement (or achieve retirement in the first place). The 'day trader' phenomena of the early 2000's was one of the worst things to ever happen to investing, as plenty of average Joe's lost their life savings treating investing as though it were gambling.

This fidelity commercial clearly is trying to tap in to the 'get rich quick' demographic and juicing them up to go out there and take some risks. It frames investing almost like a sport (the bagpipes remind me of a soccer game commercial or something out of the movie Braveheart). Even the dog... when you go in to battle you want man's best friend by your side right?

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