If you’ve ridden the New York City subway lately, you’ve likely noticed the striking white advertisements for a wearable AI gadget called Friend.
CEO Avi Schiffman shared with Adweek that the company invested over $1 million in a marketing push that included more than 11,000 cards inside subway cars, 1,000 posters on platforms, and 130 city panels. Certain stations, such as West 4th Street, are almost entirely covered in Friend ads.
“This marks the first large-scale AI advertising campaign in the world,” Schiffman claimed. (While there have been other AI-related ads with questionable impact, a print campaign of this magnitude may be unprecedented.) He called it “a massive risk,” and admitted, “I’m almost out of funds.”
The $129 Friend device has sparked debate, with Wired journalists recently criticizing its persistent monitoring and stating, “I Hate My Friend.” Likewise, some Friend advertisements have been defaced with phrases like “surveillance capitalism” and calls to “find real friends.”
Schiffman acknowledged that “New Yorkers dislike AI … probably more than anywhere else in America,” so he intentionally chose ad designs with ample white space “to invite social commentary on the subject.”