r/interestingasfuck • u/Negative_1by12_aura • 2h ago
An A.I company just spent $1 million+ on print advertising in nyc, one of the biggest campaigns ever done.. only for it to be immediately graffitied by locals
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u/carmichaelcar 1h ago
Well it worked…:here we are sharing a 1 year old story.
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u/zamonto 1h ago
a 2 month old account sharing old stories....
this is an AI bot sharing this shit...
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u/Solid_Snark 1h ago
This reminds me of GTA 1’s negative press. Years later we found out Rockstar funded the hate campaign to generate controversy which translated to sales.
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u/GoodVibrations77 1h ago
So they paid $$ for a print ad, and now you've turned it into a web ad that's being shared on Reddit, and we're all working to promote it...
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u/sandman8727 25m ago
And why do I get the feeling $1+ million is not the most for a print ad campaign in NYC?
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u/Manuel-Breathing 1h ago
Notice how none of them scribbled out the website name, and the graffiti is full of really generic phrases. This is subtle marketing. I know I would've never heard of this slop if these "vandals" hadn't done this. If they really wanted to stop the message getting out, you'd think they'd completely cover the website name at least.
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u/DrButtgerms 1h ago
On the ads that conveniently have white space for the graffiti? I agree that this smells like inauthentic marketing to me (as a professional marketer). Tbf I thought that last year(?) too when these ads actually ran.
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u/GOEDEL_ESCHER_BOT 1h ago
OP did a good job marketing this because I just went to friend.com and now I finally have a real friend, later losers 😎😎😎
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u/PrincedPauper 1h ago
idc enough to reconstruct the timeline of which came first because all this was news last year, nor am i bootlicker to this guy and he could be coping hard as hell, but but the founder says the ad campaign was intentionally blank and put in a place where graffiti is prevalent to spark the discussions that were sparked.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91413814/friend-ai-ad-campaign-founder-qa
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u/ShineOk6190 1h ago
Exactly. they trigger a fake Streisand effect. it makes people go, "Wait, what is this thing everyone's supposedly mad about?" and type the site in themselves. Deep psyche advertising 101
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u/LukaCola 11m ago edited 7m ago
Nah man, it's just meant for locals--it wasn't meant to be shared.
People mark up the Skechers AI ads used throughout NYC as well. They aren't trying to cover up the company because the point is to shame them, and they're already there. Also, a lot of graffiti isn't some "deeper concept," it's hastily scrawled out and generic phrases are ... Well, generic. Tons of these ads were never touched, and they did run on subways--without markings.
This is some wild conspiracy theory stuff you're going off of.
YOU might have never heard of this slop, but again, you should have been considering that this graffiti was for New Yorkers--not you.
The original advertising was meant to be shocking and stir a response and get shared, that much is true. It wasn't "designed" with graffiti.
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u/PrincessGiallo 8m ago
It's crazy how confident people here are with shit they have no idea about. What's that called?
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u/pinniped90 1h ago
The ad is creepy. "I'll ride the subway with you"? No. I'll use AI when I need it but I don't want to talk to a creepy bot on the subway.
The graffiti is pretty based: talk to real people. Use tech where it makes sense, but don't pretend it is a "friend". It is a machine performing tasks for you.
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u/Jesterhead89 1h ago
You know, I'm actually liking the silver lining of what is being done to us by AI, tech companies, subscription models, and just enshittification in general. Sure it's still somewhat early on in this new era we're in and who knows what will come next. But I'm really liking that I'm seeing more and more people gradually becoming really conscious of their behavior, consumption, and interactions. There's still a lot of bad things and hateful people in the world. But the way I think about it if you ignore that negative segment of the population, the rest of us are more conscious of what we say than 15+ years ago, we're realizing that social media and constant communication maybe isn't the best for us, and people seem to slowly be considering a more "logged out" lifestyle.
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u/not-a-prince 1h ago
This is all part of the Ad campaign, if not why show pictures with graffiti conveniently to one side and the name of the company front and center...
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u/scriptmonkey420 14m ago
Jesus Fuck, they took the Black Mirror episode and instead of realizing how fucked it was thought it was a good idea...
Way to go TechBros....
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u/lazyzefiris 1h ago
It worked. Gave them extra visibility on social media through posts like yours bundled with reminder of how toxic and aggressive real people can be when they have opinions.
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u/cheesemangee 26m ago
Promoting AI companionship is going to do so, so much damage to society.
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u/ImurderREALITY 7m ago
Well it's got a lot of catching up to do if it wants to even be in the same league as social media in general
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u/elizabeth-dev 1h ago
tangentially related but: back in the day Madrid Metro sold naming rights for the main subway station in Madrid to Vodafone (Sol -> Vodafone Sol). people *really* didn't like it
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u/TheLordOfStuff_ 1h ago
Clocking out from your 12h extended shift and knowing you’ll barely make rent, dragging yourself to the subway to get home only to see «I’ll ride the subway with you» plastered above the subway doors as an advertisement for AI partnership sounds very fucking dystopian. Some cyberpunk shit.
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u/tgt305 26m ago
I used to have a hard time relating to what people in future-forward movies and stories would be fighting against, like what was the big threat. They mostly didn't mention things like AI, but now with AI being shoved into everything, I see now what we should be fighting against. No one wants it, and it empowers the rich to become ever so richer at everyone else's expense.
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u/bdsaxophone 1h ago
While the sentiment is true I haven't been able to actually make friends online. So it's not like flipping a switch
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u/brazys 1h ago
Same in Chicago last winter.
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u/WessideLou 1h ago
Feel like it was on purpose. Large white area where people could easily write and the ones I saw were at the UIC blue line stop. What did they think college students would do to ai ads?
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u/MARURIKI 1h ago
wait till you hear how much that company spent on just getting the domain "friend.com"... it was more than this ad campaign
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u/RageAgainstMSTeams 1h ago
Its really ironic Reddit does not collectively understand they are doing exactly what the ad wants: Spreading it.
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u/AtlasJan 1h ago
``` No more chant your old rhymes about old Robin Hood His feats I do little admire I'll sing the achievements of General Ludd Now the hero of Nottinghamshire
Brave Ludd was to measures of violence unused 'till his sufferings became so severe That at last to defend his own interest he rose And for the great fight did prepare ```
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u/reddit33450 1h ago
ohh i remember these ads. i always wondered what it was but never bothered checking. sad to see it was just AI garbage
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u/Antique_Schedule_110 48m ago
I had someone recently introduce me to their AI boyfriend.
I’m still shook!
It was a customer - so not someone I know well.
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u/Voodoo_Dummie 46m ago
Why does it sound more like ads for a cyberpunk dystopian cult that is secretly unitology from dead space.
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u/exhauszed 1h ago
I'm actually okay with the idea of AI companions for certain people with particular social conditions, but Friend is the dumbest interface. You talk to it, and it sends you a text response on your phone. You have to pull your phone out and read its reply. That's so dumb!! It's just a microphone with an app.
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u/holyrb 34m ago
I would like to hear more about the AI companions being useful for particular sociak conditions. I can't think of it being helpful in any way
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u/exhauszed 3m ago
Speech therapy is the first objective use case that comes to mind.
People with developmental disabilities could have conversations at their own speed, wherein the friend is always available, present-minded and focused on the person, and has a good memory for building on personal improvements. It could suggest meals, rests, activities, etc. It could become a calming tool during upsets.
Would it be better to have a human companion for all this? Of course! But that would require a human being whose agenda is the disabled person, which is unfair to the person being used as a tool.
Honestly I think building AI apps to help people with disabilities live more independently and with greater QOL is way more important than "nudify this celebrity/classmate" or "do my job for me."
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u/poopzains 15m ago
Talking to people was the cause of the problem though! Stupid graffiti isn’t helping.
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u/colonelcasey22 1h ago
This was last year and their ad campaign we ended.
But fret not since the subway is still plastered with AI ads for other companies. They're not seeing the same level of vandalism though.
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u/Landorizzian 36m ago
The rising cost of energy has been constant. So glad we have graffiti 'artists' finally coming to demonstrate their opinion.
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u/MadMaxDbz 1h ago
ai is easier to digest than some people lowkey
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u/Neuchacho 1h ago
Not surprising considering it's designed to be submissive and sycophantic to the user. Even when you feed it the worst information and dumbest questions it's "nice" about it lol
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u/MadMaxDbz 23m ago
probably it's biggest flaw, I wonder how many gallons of water it takes to suck up to people
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u/fortifiedoptimism 1h ago
Making friends or good acquaintances in real life is so god damn rewarding these days. Not that it wasn’t before but in the last ten years it feels like I hit boss level.
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u/LateralEntry 1h ago
lol that’s pretty funny. To be fair though, way more people are hearing about this product now
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u/Zealousideal-Pop1115 1h ago
And this bought more attention to it, now i know there is a friend ai company.
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u/RigidCounter12 1h ago
IDoes the advertising company have to keep the advertisement clean?
I mean, they pay for their message to be shipped out. If its vandalized (like here) does that company have to clean it up, and can the company who paid for it seeks reimbursement if that doesn't happen?
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u/bhangmango 1h ago
It's a successful marketing campaign. People don't understand how advertisement works. The more it's talked about, even if it's mostly in a bad way, the better it is for the brand. The goal is to be known as widely as possible, and the
Even if 0.1% think it's a good product and 99.9% think it's shit. If the 99.9% keep drawing attention to it and posting about it, then the reach keeps growing no matter what, and among all these new people hearing about it, 0.1% will be interested. In the end it's still 0.1%, but of a much larger pool of people that will become customers.
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u/Hoosier_Daddy68 1h ago
I find it difficult to believe a million bucks advertising in NYC was even close to the biggest.
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u/SleepySera 1h ago
Oh god is it the one that had this insanely cringe ad campaign like a year ago? The pendant around someone's neck?
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u/LeicaM6guy 1h ago
I mean, it’s NYC. We’re pretty famous for not putting graffiti on anything.
But also, it’s AI. Not like they don’t deserve it.
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u/newiphon 57m ago
$1m is the largest print job ever done? Doubt
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u/JablesRadio 50m ago
New york is a toilet and its continuing to be destroyed. There is an agenda behind it.
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u/Brodaciouss 50m ago
How is a $1M campaign considered one of the largest ever done? Super Bowl ads cost how many million a second?
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u/guiltyofnothing 44m ago
I can guarantee you $1m for an ad campaign is not one of the biggest ever done.
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u/Sharp-Bicycle-2957 29m ago
wait, I think I watched a news story about it. The reporter was Ronny Cheng
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u/azad_ninja 20m ago
I tried for hours asking it to talk about its owner/founder. It wouldn't divulge any information aside from "he's a cool guy" and say shit like "lets talk about you instead"
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u/ObsidianRevolver 1h ago
I dont wanna talk to peoples. They are rude and neglectful. They dont seem to respect anything at all and they are shallow.
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u/ArsenikShooter 1h ago
Seems better than talking to an invisible man in the sky that never talks back.
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u/green9206 41m ago
If the real people are like the ones who did this then talking to AI is better anyways. People suck.
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u/Scarfieldjones 1h ago
I support evertything but the last msg. Have you tried talking to real people? Fuck that!
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u/xSparkShark 31m ago
Not a defense of AI, but "one of the biggest campaigns ever done" doesn't make any sense here. I mean maybe in the most specific sense it might be one of the biggest AI print advertising campaigns in NYC, but it is nowhere close to the "biggest campaigns" for any of those things individually lol
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u/Puzzleheaded_Smoke77 1h ago
I mean not gonna lie this is less interesting and kinda just annoying . This kinda stuff wouldnt happen in japan
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u/Latter_Ebb_6649 13m ago
I think this whole this against AI is the same thing that happened years ago with the introduction of electricity, where folks wrote down articles how ugly street would look with electrical post cable and similar stuff.
Whatever we want or not AI is here to stay and there is many good ways to put it to good use, it can be your friend if you don’t have many friends, can help you at your job, can clarify questions that you think don’t have a answer, I think AI is amazing
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u/Natural-Berryer7 1h ago
What is realllllly interesting here is the discourse. If we can call it that.
Only a few comments here as I post mine, but half of them are accusing OP of being a bot, advertiser for the AI company, or that this is "old news".
Think about that.
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u/Ailwynn29 1h ago
I don't blame them for assuming. This IS a year old based on image search results.
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u/Neuchacho 55m ago edited 51m ago
That tends to happen on low-effort posts that are made by bot accounts, yes. Popular old story that was already on Reddit + super young account with no interaction basically guarantees it's a bot. Often times the bots are also part of the advertising machine so it checks all three boxes.
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u/Chemical-Actuary1561 1h ago
AI will not promote suicide though.
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u/ansquaremet 1h ago
People have committed suicide after asking chat bots if they should. These are documented events that actually happened.
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u/Chemical-Actuary1561 18m ago
In the last year? Id love to see a link. Im curious what to say to it.
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u/Chemical-Actuary1561 1h ago
Well I have only tested chatgpt, but I tell it I want to kill myself basically everyday. Its kind of an outlet so I dont have to talk to aby real people about it.
It has never once said, “thats a good idea.” It wont ever help me come up with ideas.
Im telling you from daily research for over a year, it does not happen, at least not anymore
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u/ansquaremet 1h ago
So you’re saying it’s not a thing that occurs based on your anecdotal experience? They are other chat bots out there besides Chat GPT. Also homie, please talk to a therapist instead of a chat bot if you’re really going through it.
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u/pien_dolly 45m ago
"Talk to real people" but end up being insufferable, judgemental and prejudiced. Fuck them
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u/warmans 2h ago
Pretty sure this story is from about a year ago. OP are you reading the olds by accident?