Hollywood icon Matt Damon stunned friend and foe in 2021 by appearing in a commercial for Crypto.com. Unfortunately for Damon, shortly after the debut of the ad, the market entered the bear market that would eventually take Bitcoin to the $15,500 mark. Damon was of course criticized for that unfortunate timing in particular.
‘Fortune Favors the Brave’
The theme of the commercials that Damon shot for Crypto.com was “Fortune Favors the Brave.” We now know that this was an unfortunate text, because “the brave” were not so fortunate at all in 2022. In fact, people who invested after Damon’s advertising lost a lot of money.
Damon himself now says that he mainly participated in advertising to raise money for a good cause. With Water.org, Damon set up an initiative for clean drinking water. “We had a bad year with Water.org and I did that commercial in an effort to raise money for Water.org,” the actor said.
The Hollywood star set up his water project in 2009 with engineer and philanthropist Gary White. Water.org’s goal is to improve access to clean water worldwide by handing out small loans to finance taps and toilets.
His full salary
Damon explains that he sometimes gave his entire salary to Water.org because it was financially in a bad position. The Hollywood icon goes on to say that Crypto.com also donated an additional $1 million. “I am certainly very grateful for what they have done for our foundation,” said Damon.
The October 2021 ad depicted Damon in a digital landscape of historical figures like the Wright brothers and Sir Edmund Hillary. The commercials ended up on billboards and were broadcast on television all over the world.
After a terrible year 2022 for the crypto industry, criticism started to turn towards Damon as well. The star actor was tackled in the television show South Park, in which current events are regularly used to make jokes.