Strangers who approach you on Dublin's Grafton Street are usually looking for money, but today people were being offered something for free. About 50 people stood on Grafton Street passing out cards with compliments written on them.
"You're a legend" was printed on one card. Another said: "May I tell you, you are the height of cool".
Some 50 staff from Google teamed up with the youth organisation SpunOut.ie, for the "Make My Day Campaign".
SpunOut.ie's Emily Lindenmuth said the campaign aimed to put a smile on people's faces and lift the spirits of the nation.
The volunteers hoped to reach about 10,000 people on the streets and this could increase to one million if they passed on the message to others and it was spread through social networking sites, she said.
They got a mixed reaction from people, with some swerving to avoid them while others accepted the cards and smiled at the messages. "Irish people can't take compliments so I'm not going to give you one, but in secret I'm thinking really nice things about you," one card said. Another asked "who needs coffee when your smile is so uplifting?"
Two years ago, Google and SpunOut.ie teamed up to offer free hugs on the streets of Dublin.
People did not recoil in horror, according to Google's Ross Mahon who dressed up as a soft bunny to dispense his hugs.
"It went surprisingly well," he said and predicted the free compliments would be equally successful. "The smile comes when the person has walked about 20 feet and looked at the card."
