The Drum’s Daily Briefing: AI ad scams and wonky billboards
Our quickfire analysis of the brand, marketing and media stories that might just crop up in your meetings and conversations today.
Waitrose's wonky billboard sets off safety alerts
YouTube experiments with pause ads
Google recently reported positive results from a pilot program introducing pause ads on YouTube’s TV app.
Despite being confined to the TV app for now, there’s speculation about extending this ad format to mobile and desktop platforms, raising concerns about user experience. YouTube heavily relies on ad revenue, prompting efforts to counter adblockers and explore new ad formats, sometimes at the expense of user satisfaction.
Ultimately, it’s another example of a media owner trying to monetize every surface.
Thousands of AI girlfriend ads found on Meta
There is a proliferation of explicit AI “girlfriend” ads on Meta platforms. Wired discovered over 29,000 such ads, many with NSFW content, violating Meta’s adult content policy.
Despite community guidelines banning nudity and sexual solicitation, these ads seem to bypass scrutiny. This exacerbates longstanding concerns among sex workers, educators and LGBTQ users who feel unfairly targeted by Meta’s policies. Even legitimate sexual health ads have faced rejection. Meta claims to be reviewing and removing violating ads, yet their persistence suggests shortcomings in policy enforcement.
This issue underscores broader challenges in content moderation and raises questions about Meta’s commitment to user safety and inclusivity. It’s a common issue now, with The Drum tackling the Miss AI pageant just last week.
AI fakes BBC presenter’s voice to greenlight ad campaign
Liz Bonnin, a BBC presenter, found her likeness used in ads for insect repellent after a company was tricked by AI-generated voice messages.
A fraudster reportedly created a message faking her voice to grant permission for the campaign. The CEO of Incognito, the company behind the ads, believed he was corresponding with Bonnin and even sent £20,000 for the endorsement. However, Bonnin denied any association with the campaign, leading to the realization of being duped. AI experts confirmed the voice message’s artificial origin due to inconsistencies and stilted phrases. Bonnin sees this as a warning about AI’s potential misuse and lack of regulation. Incognito reported the incident to the police and its bank, emphasizing the rise of sophisticated scams. While the BBC and Wildlife Trusts declined to comment, Incognito apologized for any harm caused.
Adland job searches fall, suggesting…
How bad is it out there, really? It’s a question we try to get to the bottom of for our audience and the latest research from Adzuna gives a hint.
It was found that industry job postings in advertising, marketing and PR were down 11% in March, month-on-month. It was the largest fall of any sector in the UK.
We know what happens to businesses when they sack (or don’t hire) marketers. It’s also an issue facing blue chip brands, including Tesla and Nike, the world over.
Council accidentally improves billboard stunt
Marketing LinkedIn loves this billboard. Bringing the news that Waitrose might actually be affordable now, a Saatchi & Saatchi billboard adopts a bit of wonkiness to draw attention.
So much so that the local council has reportedly cordoned it off for the safety of pedestrians. The agency will happily pocket that extra earned media.
No pedestrians were crushed in the making of this ad.