A tech startup sat a Nancy Pelosi impersonator in the front row of a UFC match as part of a publicity stunt to launch a new app that lets users “invest like a politician.”
Christopher Josephs, co-founder of Los Angeles-based Autopilot, said thousands of people downloaded his business app over the weekend after his company spent six figures to sponsor the recent UFC match in Las Vegas between Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili.
Josephs hired an actress and dressed her in a pink pantsuit and sunglasses, making her a spitting image of the former House speaker.
He also made sure that the “fake Pelosi” was visible in the front row.
As O'Malley walked out of the locker room and into the ring for his fight, the camera caught the “fake Pelosi” standing a few feet from the ring in full view of the entire crowd.
According to Josephs, “the parody worked” because people took photos and posted them on their social media accounts.
“Millions more people now understand our message of banning politicians from trading on the stock market,” he wrote in X.
“Although I definitely got a few middle fingers along the way,” he added.
The company also had a Tesla Cybertruck that was converted into a mobile billboard. It drove around Las Vegas with a sign reading “Pelosi 2024 – Invest Like a Politician,” making it look like a campaign ad.
Josephs and her team are also behind the infamous “Pelosi Tracker” social media account, which monitors the stock trades made by the San Francisco congresswoman and her husband, venture capitalist and real estate investor Paul Pelosi.
Pelosi is one of the richest lawmakers in the country thanks to the powerful couple's extensive investment portfolio.
The Pelosis have come under scrutiny for the fact that their position as a senior lawmaker It gives you access to information that can influence market decisions.
Nancy Pelosi has resisted calls to ban lawmakers and their spouses from owning and trading stocks
Earlier this month, a comedian mocked the real Pelosi at an event in Austin by dressing up in pro-Democratic garb and approaching the congresswoman for stock trading advice.
According to the Autopilot website, users have made more than 9 million trades totaling more than $300 million in investments.
There are currently more than 90,000 investors using the app, according to the company, which says the platform was “built by the team behind the viral Pelosi Tracker account.”
“Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker” is an X account with over 750,000 followers that lists stock market transactions made by members of Congress.
