Your Event Poster Looks Exactly Like Everyone Else's. Here's Why & What To Do Instead
When every business on your feed is reaching for the same AI tool to make their marketing, the result isn't efficiency… It's invisibility. Here's why generic AI-generated content is quietly undermining your brand identity, and what to do instead.
You can’t open Facebook without encountering a sea of AI-generated ads. There’s one from your local coffee shop, another from your hair salon promoting their newest service, and perhaps you might even see one from your best friend for their birthday party. The irony is that all these posters look exactly the same.
This point hit home when I came across a Facebook post by Barry Whitehouse, a fine artist and art tutor, comparing different AI-generated ads for spring fairs across the UK. Notice anything? These ads were all created using ChatGPT, and they look pretty identical to each other with the same colour schemes, fonts, motifs, and general layouts.
They're the ultimate example of the dangers of chasing marketing trends.
These AI-generated posters have proliferated rapidly over the past year, and people are already tired of them. From Barry's perspective, "at this point, your poster would be better seen using Comic Sans and Word Art."
While this specific Facebook post focuses on the problems of using AI-generated posters for community and charity events, it reflects a wider disconnect between businesses and their audiences. It's easy to draw a connection between these small community-focused ads and trends we're seeing elsewhere, including for some of the biggest businesses in the world.
"AI Slop" vs. Human Storytelling
If you take a peek into the comment section of an AI-generated ad, you're guaranteed to find comments calling out the brand. They vary from well-founded concerns about the environmental impact of AI tools like ChatGPT to complaints that the brand is going against its core identity. Coca-Cola has dominated the Christmas advertising space for years, but its latest AI-generated campaign was almost universally mocked as "AI slop" and even called "creepy."
When every ad looks the same, your audience will keep scrolling. Amongst this sea of cookie-cutter AI posters and videos, it's genuine human creativity that is stopping the scroll. Nike, the masters of sports marketing, are leaning into human stories now more than ever, posting their latest ad campaign moments after Rory McIlroy clinched a back-to-back Masters championship.
The Long-Term Dangers of AI-Generated Content
Human storytelling, even if it's not polished and perfect, is what will connect with your audience. Using AI tools might make you feel like you're saving time, but generic AI-generated content is increasingly associated with weaker conversion rates, lower click-through rates, and higher cost-per-click.
Leaning on AI-generated content is becoming an Achilles’ heel for small and medium businesses, jeopardising long-term growth with generic messaging and an inconsistent brand identity.
Human and "Homemade" Alternatives
There are dozens of alternatives to using AI, with options to suit every founder's budget. Canva has long been the go-to tool for small business owners with thousands of free templates (and an easy-to-use Brand Kit feature to keep everything consistent), while freelancer platforms like Fiverr make it easy to connect with graphic designers.
If there's one lesson to be learnt from Barry's Facebook post, it's that "homemade and human made is the way forward now" if you want your content to be remembered.Don’t let your brand become part of the noise.
Stay human and cultivate a connection and community that will empower your business to reach its potential.