TikTokers Are Making Big Money With MSCHF's Anti Ad Advertising Club

MSCHF is one of the most bizarre collectives on the web today. Every two weeks, they drop an exclusive product or experience to eager fans through their website and IOS app. Sometimes it’s a physical, collectible item or piece of art, like a pair of Nike Air Max’s with holy water in the soles or a laptop infected with six of the deadliest computer viruses of all time, totaling $95 billion in damages.

Other times it’s a strange internet “prank” item, like hundreds of videos of a man eating food or a weekly newsletter filled with authentic boomer emails to laugh at. You never know what exclusive experience you’re going to get from an MSCHF drop, and the October 12th drop of the Anti Ad Ad Club was no exception.

What Is The Anti Ad Advertising Club?

On Monday, MSCHF dropped the Anti Ad Advertising Club, consisting of a TikTok page a website and nine original TikTok sounds (uploaded a few days before the drop) each one with lyrics denouncing a certain conglomerate or corporation. The website offers a link to each sound next to a bounty price. The idea is that TikTokers then use these sounds in their videos and get a payout if their video reaches a certain number of views.

At the lowest end of the spectrum is a sound attacking TikTok for suppressing content, and it can net users $10 for every 5,000 views they get. On the highest end is a sound attacking big data company Palantir, worth a whopping $20,000. The Palantir award can only go to one user (as well as the $10,000 bounty Purdue sound), but the seven other sounds go to everyone who manages to rack up the necessary views.

The specific companies on the Anti Ad Club’s chopping block are TikTok, Fashion Nova, Amazon, NFL, Tesla, Comcast, Facebook, Purdue and Palantir. There are a few rules that come with the drop. Mainly, the audio has to be clear, and the video has to fit the theme of the sound. Specifically, they say to present it as a "mock-advertisement" video, and users can only be awarded once for each sound.

What’s The Impact?

MSCHF fans immediately started using the sounds in the pursuit of anti-establishmentarianism and money. What better incentives are there?

The most popular sound as of yesterday is for the $10 anti-TikTok bounty at 5,000 views. The Purdue attack sound is the least used so far, coming in at just over 130 uses. So, let’s look at some of the highlights of each sound so far.

Anti-TikTok Sound “if ur ugly and u know it” ($10 for 5,000-plus views)

This sound is a rendition of the classic song “If You’re Happy And You Know It,” but the word "happy" is replaced by “ugly,” referring to how TikTok allegedly hides the content of “ugly” people. Not only is this the most used sound so far (over 7,000 in four days), but users also seem to be finding the most success with it. There are lots of TikTokers who have far surpassed the 5,000-view bounty, reaching into the hundreds of thousands of views. Below are two of the most popular examples so far. It’s only a $10 reward, but that’s definitely going to add up for MSCHF.

Anti-Fashion-Nova Sound “modern sweatshop” ($50 for 25,000-plus views)

This sound has been used about 400 times as of today and is intended as an attack on sweatshops. A few users have hit over 25,000 views, but not all of them seem to have read the rules. Some of the biggest posts don’t have anything to do with the anti-corporate trend, with some users even straight-up begging for views (below, right). Maybe MSCHF should have advertised the specific rules a little bit more.

Anti-Amazon Sound “it’s a package” ($100 for 50,000-plus views)

This sound is about Amazon’s cheap labor issue. Again, the most popular videos using this sound seem unrelated to MSCHF or at least ignore the rules. They may have been made when the sounds dropped early, rather than on the drop date, or people just might not be reading the terms and conditions. Of course, when there’s a cash incentive, some people will simply jump on it fast without even realizing there are more rules. A few relevant videos have hit over 50,000 views though, two of which are shown below.

Anti-NFL Sound “nnnffflll” ($200 for 100,000-plus views)

This sound is all about attacking the NFL for disregarding player safety. A few videos using the sound have reached over 100,000 views, but many blatantly don’t follow the rules. One user simply posted a video sitting still and staring at the camera, gaining over 100,000 views (below, left), but surely that can’t be a winner. Maybe MSCHF should have made the terms more clear, or maybe this is their tactic. They get views for their sounds but don’t have to pay anything out. Either way, a lot of users just don’t seem to get it, and that’s a shame. The only video that really seems relevant is just under 100,000 views (below, right).

Anti-Tesla Sound “bad guy musk” ($1,000 for 500,000-plus views)

A lot of commenters on the original sound here don’t seem to understand why they’d attack Elon Musk, seeing him as someone who does more good than bad. Regardless, there are a few notable submissions here, with multiple winners of the $1,000 prize. Two of those are shown below.

Anti-Comcast Sound “farty wifi” ($2,000 for 1 million-plus views)

This sound is basically just a bunch of fart sounds, which is pretty cool. Clearly, the people at MSCHF just hate Comcast. Believe it or not, at least two users have hit over 1 million views here with potentially relevant videos (shown below). The bigger cash incentive clearly inspires higher quality videos, which just goes to show how much support is actually attached to this movement when it’s done right.

Anti-Facebook Sound “fucc zucc” ($4,000 for 2 million-plus views)

This sound attacks Facebook for allegedly proliferating hate speech and fake news, and basically just says “boomer” a bunch. Nobody has hit the 2-million mark yet, but a few users are gunning for it, with at least two potentially relevant videos hitting over a million views (shown below).

Anti-Purdue Sound “pharmadeath” ($10,000 for 5 million-plus views)

This sound is attacking Purdue for allegedly assisting in the opioid crisis. Nobody seems to have hit this goal yet, but the prize has got some users going hard. The top contender here is probably the highest quality video of all, featuring a dude actually turning into an anti-big-pharma graph (shown below, left). It's gained over 194,000 views so far, with the next highest contender at over 96,000 (shown below, right).

Anti-Palantir Sound “they’re watchin u” ($20,000 for 10 million-plus views)

This is maybe the most beg-filled sound of them all, and that makes sense for such a high sum of money. One man has even managed to reach 2.8 million views on a video with the sound (shown below, left), but the rules are very clear that the video has to be relevant to the sound. A more relevant video has also managed to get 1.1 million views.

The Takeaway

The Anti Ad Ad Agency is fascinating as a competition, but as a means of protest, it's a bit more questionable. The sheer amount of begging taking place under the sounds is hard to ignore and shows where most of the contenders' priorities lie. The truth is, though, that it's not really their fault. The terms and services are listed on the site, but many people probably don't even realize that before making their entry. Despite this, some TikTokers are definitely making a little money through the Anti Ad Ad Agency, and it'll be interesting to see who gets the coveted Palantir and Purdue bounties.

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