We created a fake delivery company to get a job

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

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.