We created a fake delivery company to get a job
A pair of Ukrainian creatives fleeing war built an elaborate “fake delivery company” – complete with uniforms, targeted ads using deceased profiles, and AI deepfakes of specific executives – to land work at top London marketing firms. Commenters are split between praising the stunt as ingenious guerrilla self‑promotion for a competitive industry and condemning it as invasive, ethically dubious behavior that normalizes stalking, adtech abuse, and identity manipulation. The exchange broadens into questions about privacy norms, the morality of modern marketing tactics, and how far job‑seekers should go to stand out.
Overall Reaction to the Stunt
- Many find the campaign wildly creative, ambitious, and well-executed, especially for breaking into competitive creative/advertising roles.
- Others see it as overkill for only landing a short contract, questioning whether it was truly a “success” given time, money, and possible reputational risks.
- Several compare it to “red teaming” or hacking a security firm to get hired: using the same tools and tactics as the industry they want to join.
Ethics, Creepiness, and Privacy
- Strong pushback on multiple elements:
- Use of AI deepfakes of targets’ faces and voices.
- Hyper-targeted ads via lists padded with deceased people.
- Physical deliveries in fake uniforms to offices.
- Some describe it as stalking, invasive, or “sociopathic,” and say they’d involve law enforcement if they received such a package.
- Others argue it’s legally permissible (public data, parody-like deepfakes, targeted ads are standard) and less harmful than mainstream adtech practices already in use.
- There’s disagreement over whether this normalizes or selects for increasingly creepy behavior in marketing.
Refugee / Financial Context
- The authors’ framing as displaced people “with only a backpack” is challenged; commentators point out the evident budget (robot dogs, iPads, custom gear) and call the framing misleading.
- Some are sympathetic given the war background and relocation stress; others argue that doesn’t justify boundary-crossing tactics or lavish spending.
Security and Workplace Norms
- Multiple comments note security concerns: unknown iPads, easy access to offices with high-vis vests, and how this could be repurposed for phishing, radicalization, or worse.
- Several say this clashes with UK professional norms and could easily have escalated to police, evacuations, or legal issues.
Reflections on Marketing, AI, and Power
- Thread connects the stunt to broader discomfort with advertising, surveillance capitalism, AI-driven manipulation, and exploitation of personal data (including the dead).
- Some see it as a sharp demonstration of how easily egos can be targeted and how close modern marketing is to social engineering.
- Others, especially from a creative-industry perspective, say this kind of boundary-pushing is exactly what top-tier agencies quietly reward.