I don’t like ads. My whole life, I’ve seen tons of them everywhere. Most ads are just trying to get me to buy things I don’t need, or to make me feel bad about myself so I’ll buy something to feel better. When I was younger, ads made me feel insecure about my body and relationships.
Things have changed a lot with technology. When I was a kid, making and broadcasting an ad was expensive and only big companies made them. There were lots of people involved in making an ad, and regular people couldn’t really engage back with them.
Now, ads are everywhere on social media because that’s where everyone spends their time. We don’t hang out in public spaces, sometimes called ‘third spaces,’ as much anymore, so we’re online more. Kids can’t freely play outside the same way they did fifty years ago in the United States. Social media means instant feedback – comments, shares, and lots of data collection. My mentor used to say, “Data is the new oil.”
Since anyone can make an ad on their computer now, it’s good to know how they work. Ads have a basic structure we can learn from.
Most ads are designed for people to only look at them for a few seconds. So, they’re made to be simple. I’ll use a disturbing billboard trending on the internet as an example.
I think this is a good example of how advertising is in 2025. Someone saw this billboard, likely on a commuting route, and they posted it on the popular message board website reddit.com. On that Reddit Post, there are 833 ‘upvotes’ and 104 comments. Anyone can go read these comments and see honest, anonymous feedback of what people think. The top rated comment, “Surely, this leopard would never eat my face.” Then the Reddit post got re-shared by a Staff Writer, Natalie Fear, on the website Creative Bloq on the trending section. This is instant feedback at play, which would be impossible decades ago.
Let’s look at the billboard itself. It has the basic parts of an ad:
- Target audience: Who the ad is for
- Headline: Something catchy to get attention
- Call to action: What they want you to do
- Logo: The company’s symbol
- Unique selling point: Why their product is different
- Value proposition: What problem they solve
- Visuals: Eye-catching images
- Research: Knowing the audience and competition
The headline is catchy and has a typo on purpose, with a spellcheck mark. It tells you not to hire people, but to hire a robot instead. The robot’s picture is creepy, maybe not in the way that they wanted. The company’s logo is there so you’ll remember it. I think this billboard is meant for businesses that hire a lot of freelancers and do a lot of lay-offs. I think the implied call to action is to look up the company name on your smartphone using a search engine while you are driving. I’m guessing it is intentionally placed along an urban corridor where a lot of start-up and executive types drive through regularly.
Is it a good offer?
It depends. It’s good for companies that want to save money on employees, but bad for everyone else.
Could the ad be better?
I’m an amateur at marketing, especially compared to robots. I wouldn’t know how to make this ad better, and I don’t want to. I only do marketing for myself, and I’m not a professional. I don’t want to work for an ad company – they want robots! But I think most people don’t like robots and prefer real people, even if we’re not perfect.
One more thing: AI is making funny video ads now. They’re silly, but we can still learn about ads by watching them.
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