Dating app Thursday’s graffitied car stunt in Sydney ‘backfires’

A car was left in Sydney graffitied with ‘cheater,’ ‘scum’, and ‘liar’ messages, sparking a social media frenzy. But all was not as it seemed.

A car left graffitied with ‘cheater’, ‘scum’ and ‘I know what you did’ messages in central Sydney has sparked a social media frenzy.

Now the people behind the seemingly revenge-esque plot have confessed it was a stunt to promote the dating app Thursday, after they spray painted the grey Peugeot with insults and parked the vehicle at Foveaux St in Surry Hills on Friday afternoon.

“You may have seen our little stunt out and about Sydney!” the Thursday account posted to Instagram.

“We don’t have the huge budgets to splash out on influencers, big billboards or fancy TV ads, so we got creative to get your attention! (No cars were harmed in the making of it),” the post continued.

However, people have been left far from impressed.

Pictures of the car appeared across social media as people tried to seek out the ‘revenge’ story. Picture: Reddit

The bold marketing move initially caused a stir online as people were desperate to learn the reason for the revenge act, and as one TikTok user commented, “hear her side of the story”.

However, within hours, the dating app company – which is best-known for only working on Thursdays – claimed responsibility for the stunt and people quickly shared their thoughts.

“It doesn’t matter that it’s (their) car, it’s about the message you’re sending. Why would you want your dating app to be associated with cheating and vandalism? What’s supposed to be the take-away here?” one follower asked.

“This is actually terrible marketing. Even if there is some kind of explanation it still won’t make sense. I had so much hope for this brand but now I’m very confused,” another replied.

“I cannot imagine this not backfiring,” a third commented.

While not everyone was completely sold on the idea, an occasional comment praised the stunt and said Australians needed to lighten up.

“All I’ve learnt here is people in Sydney have no sense of humour. This would have got a good response in London,” one person wrote.

“Glad to see some people still have a sense of humour! U GO GIRL,” a second user replied.

According to Thursday’s Instagram account, the viral stunt was performed by the new city representative for Thursday Events, Sophie Youngs.

In a statement shared to her personal Instagram account, Ms Youngs explained she had graffitied her own car to promote the launch of Thursday Events in Sydney.

“I spray painted the car to get your attention, it wasn’t real … but for all you singles out there who are sick of dating apps, you need to download Thursday,” her statement read.

According to the dating company, Thursday Events are the designated place in each city for singles to come together and meet in real life.

The singles nights go hand-in-hand with the dating app, which is only live for people to “match and chat” every Thursday for 24 hours only.

Despite the backlash, one thing is certain. The idea of “any publicity is good publicity” continues to thrive in the dating game.

News.com.au has reached out to Thursday for comment.

Originally published as Dating app Thursday’s graffitied car stunt in Sydney ‘backfires’