How Stake's Native Ads Took Over Reddit

How Stake’s Native Ads Took Over Reddit

A scandal seems to be brewing on Reddit. Users have discovered hidden advertising for Stake in a whole bunch of subreddits.

The Essence of the Scheme

1. Posts are disguised as real stories from real people. The goal is to evoke trust and empathy.
2. Somewhere between the lines, a phrase like «I already have money earned from Stake» appears. Sometimes, an already published post is edited to add a brand mention.
3. To bypass Reddit’s filters, characters in the brand name are substituted— for example, the letter «e» is written in Cyrillic.
4. Subreddits are chosen where there are many people, and the target audience is vulnerable. Examples include r/socialanxiety, /r/careerguidance, r/offmychest.

Examples of Stories

«I finally canceled my gym membership that I paid for 8 months and never went to» (here):

«I already have some savings from Stake, but I still don’t want to waste money.»

«Am I a jerk for telling my brother that his wedding venue is a bad decision» (here):

«I had already saved some money from Stake that I planned to gift them, so I felt I had the right to speak up.»

There are hundreds of such stories. A more detailed investigation can be found here.

There is a theory that the brand itself is advertising with the platform’s consent. Other companies have already used such tactics on Reddit.