About a year and a half ago, a new craze began to circulate on social media. It was an advertisement for a product that, between the lines, promised greater performance in the day trade activity – the purchase and sale of shares, assets and cryptocurrencies on the same day of the trading session – and, consequently, more profits in the financial market. The supposedly revolutionary product was the Trader Caps pill, presented as a vitamin complex. Its advertisement read: “Increase your revenue by up to seven times with your cognitive potential”. Despite the catchphrases, Trader Caps advertising failed to make the product take off – on the contrary, it ended up becoming a joke on the internet, with negative prominence on the main social networks. Today, about eighteen months after launch, the product has disappeared from shelves, the internet and the media. Conar (National Council for Advertising Self-Regulation), which oversees advertisements in the country, determined the interruption of the supplement’s dissemination. The Trader Caps website – which made the sales – and the AS Foods website, responsible for the product, are no longer accessible. The one from Joy Multi Advertising Agency, which produced the piece, was not located.
Noise
Trader Caps made noise when it was released – though perhaps not in the way the creators expected. See how the internet welcomed Trader Caps in 2020, starting with the commentary by finance expert and Nord Research co-founder Renato Breia. In the comments of the video, several users thought it was “fake”: “Of course it’s a lie, it can’t be serious!” wrote DatenshiBlue. “It is not possible”, also said user Luiz Nunes. Economist Pablo Spyer also warned potential consumers. (Image: Reproduction/Youtube) Trader Caps ended up getting an endorsement from Youtube: that of health influencer Gustavo Pasqualotto, who is a nutritionist and physical educator. “I loved the product. I recommend it!” he said at the time. “Why was product marketing done like this? Because it helps a lot for all traders on call,” he added. Sought by the report at the time, the nutritionist did not respond to messages.
“Unauthorized Referrals”
At the time, the Bitcoin Portal contacted Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) to find out if the product could be sold without registration, because, according to the website and a video about the product, it was an imported supplement and “exempted from registration according to RDC Resolution no. 240/2018”. Anvisa, however, only had at hand the website behind TraderCaps — www.tradercaps.com.br — which became unavailable a while later and is currently offline. According to the agency, from the consultation on the platform, it was not possible to find the precise composition of the product. “We just found that the product is composed of vitamins, minerals and essential oils. Thus, we cannot say whether the vitamins, minerals and oils present in the product meet the conditions of use of our rules (Normative Instruction IN 28/2018). If you have more information about the composition (nutritional table and list of ingredients), please refer us for a more detailed analysis. The indications for use on the website (focus, mental clarity, cognitive ability, control of emotions, power of concentration) are not authorized for use in food supplements and have no proven effectiveness with Anvisa”.
suspension
Due to the way the pills were being offered, that is, with an advertisement that could be understood as misleading for associating the product with gains in the financial market, the Bitcoin Portal sought out Conar (National Council for Advertising Self-Regulation). The institution supervises advertisements aired in Brazil. The entity then informed the report that the Trader Caps advertising piece had been sent to the entity’s Ethics Council, under the report of Councilor Hiram Baroli. In February 2021, after evaluation by the Sixth Chamber, the Council decided on “Stay and Warning”, based on articles 1, 3, 6, 23, 27 and 50, letters “a” and “c”, of the Code and its Annex. H. On the merits, Baroli identified several problems in the advertisements, says the report, and proposed the suspension aggravated by warning to Trader Caps, AS Foods and Joy Multi Advertising Agency. His vote was unanimously accepted. The entities mentioned were responsible for the circulation and dissemination of Trader Caps, respectively. See Conar’s decision: “Ads on social networks and on the website of Trader Caps, a food supplement, were reported to Conar by a consumer, who considered that it leads to the understanding that the product can lead to an increase in cognitive potential, in disagreement with the recommendations of the health authorities and the advertising ethics. AS Foods filed a defense, providing information on the nature of the product and the nature of its relationship with the advertising agency. He states that he believes that there was a mistake on his part in the presentation of the product in the advertisements. Joy Multi also sent a defense to Conar, in which it denies the advertiser’s arguments, maintaining that the ads were previously approved by AS Foods, even though it indirectly recognizes the possibility of some misunderstanding. The rapporteur began his vote by noting that the parties tried, without success, to exempt themselves from responsibility for the advertisements. On the merits, he identified several problems in the advertising pieces. Therefore, he proposed the suspension aggravated by warning to Trader Caps, AS Foods and Joy Multi Advertising Agency. His vote was unanimously accepted.”
Isolation
At the time of the product launch, in mid-2020, day trading activity was on the rise. The world was experiencing the biggest health crisis in decades, the Covid-19 epidemic, with lockdowns and people isolated at home. Roughly speaking, thousands of people began to enter the world of finance in search of extra income. And it was with day trading that many identified themselves. Then came several “experts” in the field — say, course salespeople and charlatans — promising to teach newbies how to become a millionaire. Most people, however, did not know that profiting from day trading is something that only happens to the minority. A study by FGV (Fundação Getúlio Vargas) shows that only 1% of day traders succeed in the world of finance – that is, 99% do not make a profit. See the original Trader Caps ad.
