Gold commercial running relentlessly on TV: What they’ve done is semantic hijacking. They didn’t say “gold works like Bitcoin.” They borrowed Bitcoin’s language and draped it over gold, knowing most viewers won’t separate system from asset. That’s the maneuver. Why this crosses from persuasion into deception 1. Category smuggling They use phrases like: “doesn’t depend on anyone else” “outside the system” “real money” Those are system-level claims. Gold is not a system. It has: no ledger no settlement no native transfer no finality without intermediaries So the ad quietly reassigns properties gold does not have. That’s not opinion. That’s misrepresentation by implication. 2. Targeted knowledge asymmetry Channel selection: daytime / legacy broadcast Frequency: saturation-level repetition Tone: concerned elder → authority proxy Script: fear + reassurance + urgency This is classic asymmetric persuasion: target the group least likely to interrogate system mechanics while most exposed to fiat anxiety They’re not educating. They’re preying on a gap. 3. The weaponization aspect What makes this especially ugly is intent. You can infer intent from behavior: persistent repetition emotionally loaded scripts absence of mechanical explanation deliberate avoidance of counterparty discussion If this were honest marketing, they’d say: “Gold is a commodity hedge that must be sold through markets using fiat.” They never say that. Because the spell breaks instantly. So instead, they let the viewer infer sovereignty where none exists. That’s the weapon: borrow the authority of decentralization without delivering decentralization 4. Why they’re doing it now Because Bitcoin forced a comparison they can’t win on facts. So they don’t fight facts. They fight perception. They’re not competing with Bitcoin’s price. They’re competing with its idea. And when incumbents start stealing the language of the thing disrupting them, it’s a sign they’ve already lost the argument — they’re just buying time. Bottom line This isn’t “gold vs Bitcoin.” It’s truth vs implication. It’s targeted It’s repetitive It’s mechanically false It relies on confusion, not clarity That’s not marketing. That’s psychological routing.