Episode

Froggle, Goofstump, and the fake AI companies winning hearts online

Podcast: Marketplace Tech
Published: Jul 14, 2026
Duration seconds: 542
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Canonical source: https://www.marketplace.org/episode/2026/07/14/froggle-goofstump-and-the-fake-ai-companies-winning-hearts-online
Audio: https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/5/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/play.publicradio.org/podcast/o/marketplace/tech_report/2026/07/14/tech_20260714_TECH_pod_128.mp3?awCollectionId=mkp-MKPtech&awEpisodeId=01KXDZ4BX4Q11Z8TJHKNHP9A2K
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Summary

Last month, comedians Harris Alterman and Dave Ross posted a series of advertisements for made-up tech companies around the New York City subway system. The ads are fake, but they bear an eerie resemblance to the real AI marketing campaigns proliferating throughout U.S. cities. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with the two comedians about why the joke resonated with so many people and what’s next in terms of AI mockery.