Monday 29 January 2007

Ad Generator - Hmmm!?


Several of the planning blogs I read regularly have posted interesting pieces about the Ad Generator.

It was developed by Alexis Lloyd as part of an academic thesis.

In the words of Alexis, "The ad generator is a generative artwork that explores how advertising uses and manipulates language."

Sounds good. Even interesting. But that's about it.

In my humble opinion the Ad Generator should have stayed within the cloistered confines of academia.

Every ad it generates is anything but an ad. Unless of course your idea of advertising is all about empty words and vapid visuals.

In fact it's the whole concept of generating ads that I have a problem with. We're not in the ad business. We're in the ideas business.

Perhaps Alexis should revisit the project and create an Idea Generator.

Now there's something I'd pay money to see.