73. Welcome to the "Strip"-Mall of the Metaverse
Amazon wants to make your commercials (assuming Donald gives Bezos his approval for being a good boy).
Hello.
I’m a bit late with this edition. Lost a loved one last week. “Thello” was one heck of a mother-in-law. I’m not going to dwell other than to mention how your perspective is … re-adjusted. Nothing you don’t already know. And having the opportunity to work on this project of ours here is a welcome distraction. So thank you for welcoming me and indulging me in this pursuit of mine. So let’s get to it.
Headlines:
A couple of excellent articles in MediaPost worthy of your time. If you’re pressed for time, definitely read “The Cost of Knowing.” The upshot - advertising’s brain drain and strategic ageism problem relates to cost in a surprising way.
The Cost of Not Knowing
You can be brilliant, respected, at the top of your game. And still get the chop. Not because you failed. No. But because someone with a spreadsheet couldn’t explain your value in a scope. link
When The Going Gets Weird, Content Turns Non-Pro
"Define what you mean by professionals," I asked her, adding, "Because a lot of those creators are professionals. They're just long tail professionals." link
1. Welcome to the Strip-Mall of the Metaverse
Why are we undressing strangers with algorithms? Can’t we just text like the good old days?” Meanwhile, deep in a Hong Kong server farm, Joy Timeline HK cranks out Crush AI, the hottest “nudify” app on the planet. Hot enough to run 87,000-plus Facebook and Instagram ads before Meta finally screamed “SERENITY NOW!” and sued the pants off them—pun very much intended.
Meta’s official statement reads like corporate doom poetry: new detection tech, data-sharing alliances, and a lawsuit designed to “clamp down” on the digital undressing epidemic.
Translation? Even the company that turbocharged oversharing thinks this is a bridge too far.
A Growth Curve That Would Make Wall Street Blush
Why all the fuss? Because demand is spiking like caffeine in a writers’ room. Investigations found hundreds of these ads still slipping through Meta’s filters last week. The audience isn’t just lonely adults; a CBS study warns that 6 % of American teens have already been targeted by nude deepfakes that look like them.
“Who are these people?” the darker answer is: increasingly, it’s everyone. Your coworker, your kid’s classmate, maybe even your dentist—because apparently no one is safe from pixelated disrobing.
From Ha-Ha to Uh-Oh: Why It’s Getting Worse
Cheap thrills, cheaper tech – Off-the-shelf diffusion models let hobby coders slap a “Remove Shirt” button on an app faster than you can say GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).
Ad-network loopholes – Developers play whack-a-mole with policy reviewers, swapping URLs and copy every time an ad gets zapped. Meta admits it’s chasing copycats in real time.
So let’s look at the “highlights:”
Extortion economy – Blackmail rings love friction-free deepfakes. A single AI-generated nude can spawn a pay-or-spray scam targeting minors, college kids, or celebrities.
Platform fatigue – Social networks are juggling so many crises (political disinfo, CSAM - Child Sexual Abuse Material bills, copyright wars) that AI smut is just Tuesday.
The Coming Storm—And Why Your Clothes Aren’t the Only Thing at Risk
Imagine a dystopia where every LinkedIn headshot is potential ransom fodder. Recruiters Google you; up pops a deepfake that says “Hire me or else.” Brands will scramble to verify influencer images. Compliance teams will need CSI-style forensic tools just to approve a banner ad. It’s a future so bleak even George Costanza wouldn’t hang around.
Regulators are sharpening knives. The EU’s AI Act already labels non-consensual deepfakes “high-risk,” while U.S. senators demand action after the Crush AI fiasco. Expect fines big enough to make venture capitalists audit their portfolio for accidental smut. But these Facebook “advertisers” seem capable of moving faster than government bureaucracy.
So, What Can We Do?
Maybe stop advertising strip-bots to children? Just a thought. On a grimmer note:
Platforms: Bake deepfake forensics into the upload pipeline—don’t bolt it on after the outrage.
Advertisers: Add “No-Nudify” clauses to media buys. If your ads appear next to a digital peep show, you’re toast. Um, no sh*t here.
Parents & schools: Teach media literacy that includes AI image forensics—the 2025 version of “stranger danger.”
Lawmakers: Move beyond stern letters; mandate watermarking and rapid takedown for intimate deepfakes.
Punchline—or Gut Punch?
We laugh because the alternative is crying into our webcams. “Nudify” apps are the ultimate comedy bit: technology solving a problem nobody had the decency to invent yet. But behind the chuckles lurks a doom-laden drumbeat: consent shredded, reputations mugged, teens collateral-damaged.
So next time an ad says, “Upload a photo to strip for a minute,” maybe ask, “What is this obsession with taking clothes off in zeroes and ones? Haven’t we done enough laundry already?”
Then hit report, not install—before the joke’s on all of us.
Source: theregister.com, fb.com, theverge.com, cbsnews.com
2. Amazon cranks up its generative-video engine ahead of Cannes Lions, promising studio-quality spots in minutes
Amazon is shooting Cannes-quality commercials faster than I can have Sora render a shopping center? One minute the festival crowd is sipping rosé, the next Amazon’s new generative-video gizmo is spitting out six “studio-ready” spots like it’s running a popcorn machine. Great for efficiency—unless you’re an art director who just got turned into yesterday’s crouton.
From Beta to Big-Bang Hype
Amazon rolled its first AI video generator in September. Cute, but low-motion—think PowerPoint with a pulse. Now, days before Cannes Lions, the company “souped up” the engine: high-motion clips, believable humans and photogenic golden retrievers, all ready for a 30-second pre-roll while you’re still brushing your teeth.
Jay Richman, Amazon Ads VP, calls it “democratizing access” for small advertisers. Translation: everyone can make glossy ads, so prepare for a tsunami of AI cat-food commercials chasing you from Twitch to Prime Video like an overly friendly mime.
“Democratizing” is overused today to a place of boredom. Ironic it being applied to secondary at best things in life while there are those who are rolling back on rights protected by the U.S. Constitution.
I went there. That all. Still trying to find my voice here. :|
Two Minutes to Midnight (And to Finished Footage)
Under the hood sits Nova Reel 1.1, Amazon’s upgraded model that now strings together multi-shot videos up to two full minutes—because apparently TikTok-length wasn’t terrifying enough. Provide a prompt, maybe a reference image, and Nova carves your masterpiece into tidy six-second shots with a consistent look.
But brace for the doom: Amazon won’t say where all that training footage came from, just that it will “indemnify” customers against copyright blowback. Nothing screams confidence like a pre-written lawsuit settlement.
Free—Like a Puppy You Still Feed
Unlike hiring a real crew, Video Generator is free (for now). Budget-squeezed brands type in a product ID and—voilà!—get six turnkey versions ready to A/B/C/D/E/F-test. One agency calls it a “game-changer,” which is marketing code for “we’d rather not show the client our invoice anymore.”
Amazon claims video ads deliver a 30 % higher click-through rate than static creative. Sounds sunny—until every listing looks like it was directed by the same algorithmic auteur. Welcome to the uncanny carousel where every ad has perfect lighting, zero soul, and that same stock-smile dog who never blinks.
Cannes Déjà Doom
At Amazon Port in Cannes, execs will demo “personal multichannel campaigns” that hop from Prime Video to Twitch faster than a yacht-party RSVP. If this feels like your last chance to inhale the artisanal aroma of human-made creativity, that’s because it might be.
Remember when Cannes was about risky storytelling and 90-second epics? Now it’s a booth where you design fragrance packaging and the ad to sell it—before dessert. Somewhere a forlorn production assistant is whispering, “WTF? - film school loans for this?”
Punchlines and Paradoxes
Pointroll Paradox: “We used to complain about banner ads. Now the banners are alive and demanding attention.”
The Gloomy Tagline: A flood of hyper-targeted, friction-free video could turn the internet into Times Square on permanent autoplay—minus the charm, plus algorithmic déjà vu.
The Silent Scream for Creatives: Storyboard artists become prompt-engineers; editors become prompt-janitors. The industry’s new mantra: Learn to wrangle AI—or get wrangled.
So, What Now?
Brands: Enjoy the speed, but guard originality like it’s grandma’s secret marinara. If every competitor has the same AI polish, differentiation dies (in the dark).
Agencies: Shift from “we make stuff” to “we make smart prompts, police ethics, and sprinkle humanity.” Otherwise Nova Reel will do your line items for free.
Regulators & Unions: The copyright icebergs are real—start mapping them before the ad-ship Titanic sets sail.
Curtain Call
Account teams would shrug, “We’re outsourcing our imagination to the cloud—what could possibly go wrong?” The doom chorus answers: unchecked content glut, creative homogeny, and lawsuits waiting in the wings. So yes, Amazon’s generative-video engine can whip up Cannes-worthy spots in minutes. Just don’t be surprised when the festival program is twelve hours long—every day—forever.
Sources: marketingbrew.com, techcrunch.com
3. Parting Shot - Why Sora Sucks.
Their usage terms prohibit all aspects of fun. And productivity. Review the following prompt. It was edited and re-edited to the point of zero cohesion. And yet it continually violates their Terms of Service. It’s not like “Trump and Putin try to make a baby.” This was edited FIVE TIMES.
A 16:9, 10-second, rapid-cut trailer: start with a wide-angle drone glide over a sun-blasted shopping center. Smash-cut to a low-angle dolly push toward the grimy but blank marquee with no messaging; its lone fluorescent tube sputtering. Hard whip-pan reveals a restless line—tattoo-sleeved Gen-Z, harried office workers, gray-haired retirees— 50 of them shuffling beneath scorching midday glare as they wait in line to enter the shop. Before you go ... help!
“Trump and Putin try to make a baby.” It worked! Someone needs to press that button.
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