How to Burn $1M in a Subway Tunnel Friend, an AI companion startup, just spent $1M on a full NYC subway takeover. 11,000+ posters told riders: “[frend] noun. Someone who listens, responds, and supports you.” The hidden message: people can’t be trusted, but machines can. That isn’t smart marketing. It’s insulting. The result was predictable. Graffiti everywhere. “Surveillance capitalism.” “Stop profiting off loneliness.” Anger, not adoption. What makes it worse? There’s no sign they tested the message first. A few thousand dollars on A/B testing would have made it clear, “This campaign will blow up in your face.” That $1M could have paid for smarter moves with direct email campaigns and Influencer partnerships. Maybe the founders followed P. T. Barnum rule on PR, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity—as long as they spell your name right.” If so, they hit this one out of the park. They’re getting all the publicity they could want. Just not the kind you’d want if your product depends on trust. What do you think? Brilliant marketing? Or the equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot?