Tiffany's Subversive Ad illustrating Robinhood: includes the text "WE BUILT ROBINHOOD FOR YOU" over a photograph of someone with an outstretched hand for a handshake and another hand holding out money to another person

Many companies have been known in the public sphere to have unethical business practices and products, but Robinhood has, for the most part, escaped such scrutiny. The idea behind Robinhood seems rather noble; their mission statement is “to democratize finance for all,” essentially making the stock market more accessibile to the common folk. (Robinhood Mission Statement) But is Robinhood really doing that?

Take the Gamestop fiasco earlier in 2021. It saw that users were making too much money from trading Gamestop stocks (and mocking Wall Street and hedge funds in the process) that it decided to freeze these trades, but claimed that the reasoning behind this was due to “issues with volatile stock and regulatory requirements”! (CNET: Robinhood backlash: What you should know about the GameStop stock controversy)

Not only did Robinhood care more about its own profits rather than its users’, it seemed quick to jump the defense of Wall Street and hedge funds, despite being outwardly antithetical to them. Robinhood’s PR has been rather successful so far, as most people are unaware of its secret relationship with Citadel, a popular hedge fund that has been accused of manipulating the market. (Washington Post: Robinhood and Citadel’s relationship comes into focus as Washington vows to examine stock-market moves)

I wanted to illustrate this deceit with my subversive ad. In essence, Robinhood claims to be helping the general public by democratizing finance, and yet, unlike its namesake, it appears to be helping the rich by stealing from the poor instead. The ad focuses the eye on the text, drawing a vertical line downward and emphasizing that Robinhood was made for “you,” the people, and the friendly handshake in the photo supports that idea. The text, “We built Robinhood for you,” is taken from an advertisement Robinhood put out shortly after its Gamestop scandal. (Daily Mail UK: Robinhood takes out full-page New York Times ad claiming it is ‘humbled’ and has always put customers first as Congress prepares hearings) Because the text and the hand stands out the most, they draw attention away from the most sinister part of the ad: the person (representing Robinhood) has another hand outstretched behind their back to provide money to someone else, presumably an untrustworthy third-party. This hints at Robinhood’s collusion with Citadel and other hedge funds to indicate that Robinhood is inherently dishonest about the work it does. Other visual elements, particularly the color of the text and the logo, are taken from other Robinhood advertisements, as shown below.

INVEST AND CHILL

The end of test driving

My entire design process can be found here: Design Process PDF