Credit app using ‘Squid Game’ cards to warn customers about debt

In a clever marketing gimmick, a company that helps customers get out of credit card debt has been slipping Squid Game cards underneath their doors.

For those few who haven’t seen Netflix’s biggest series launch of all time, getting one of those mysterious business cards — decorated only with a circle, a triangle and square — usually means that person is in debt, deep. In fact, according to the show, their only option is to participate in a deadly series of children’s games, with a fortune — and players’ lives — on the line.

However, for the 10,000 people who received them in New York and Miami, the debt app Relief was trying to get the word out about the dangers of credit card debt. The guerilla marketing campaign was the brainchild of the Canadian ad agency Wunder, according to Adweek.

“We thought if we could strike with something quick enough and relevant to the situation, we could create a surprising brand interaction and start the conversation around debt,” the company’s Stephen Flynn told industry trade.

Relief noted that credit card debt in America is at a record high of $930 billion, and with tens of millions out of work thanks to COVID-19 job losses, it’s only going to get worse.

What’s more, millennials and Gen Z — arguably Squid Game‘s biggest audience — have the highest rates of credit card debt delinquency.