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If any journalist is willing to cover this story, all of this information is publicly available but I can also put you in touch with some of the workers involved. DM me.

Let’s wrap up: Trade Republic staged a fake protest to promote a new product, they asked the workers to expose themselves and do stuff outside of their normal tasks, gave them fake slogans and signs, and then bragged about it on social media.

I, for once, would totally make jokes about this incident, if I met one apologetic Trade Republic worker in the wild.

Many workers, though, found this activity ridiculous, but so far they haven’t voiced it openly to the management. I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens though: the news is going around, and it’s terrible for their dignity.

Obviously, the workers weren’t enthusiastic about it. Most played along. Some are naive tech-bros, so they saw no problem with the request from the management. I also think this goes against their contract, but whatever.

Embarrassing examples of the slogans, with strong “How do you do, fellow kids?”-vibes included: “Girls just wanna have funds”, “Is there life after work?”, “Make trading great again”, “How is there always money for fireworks and not for investing?” 🤓🤓🤓

Obviously, the signs contained a list of pre-selected slogans provided by the company. This is where the cringe peaks: the soulless copywriting of start-up no-lifers tries to imitate the creativity of spontaneous political action, with disastrous results.

On top of that, the people participating in the fake protest weren’t shills or paid actors: they were employees of the company. Many employees have been coerced to make the signs, join the fake protest, stay there to attract attention, and allow the photographer to take photos

A start-up organizing a fake protest for any topic is already cringe, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s go deeper. The event was mostly a publicity stunt to promote their new debit card, with a stand where people could pre-apply to receive the shiny version.

Now, let’s get to the cringe: last week the company organized a fake protest in front of their offices. The protest was supposed to be about financial freedom, freedom of trading, a confused reformation of the pension system, and other 1984 “Freedom is Slavery” kind of claims.

4 out of 5 in their C-Level are German tech-bros, one of which ended up on Forbes 30 under 30. That’s always a guarantee that something is off, a signal you will find the most dystopic shit you can imagine.