Ad folks on Ministry of Finance’s AI-generated ads stirring up conversations

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has generated a significant amount of chatter online after it released a series of three AI-generated images to bring awareness to its enhanced Assurance Package, a scheme meant support Singaporean families with financial aid.

In the images, MOF shared two pictures of families with children and one with an elderly couple. 

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What got netizens talking though was that the images sprouted some errors when looked at too closely. For example, in one of the images, the woman sports six fingers on one of her hands. 

If you zoom in, you can also see a man in the background with an extra toe. 

Netizens were quick to criticise the image with some asking why real images of Singaporeans were not used and with some saying it looked "scary" and like a "scam".

Some even said that coming from a ministry in Singapore, where authenticity and truth is valued, the lack of checks on the ad was "alarming". 

"Generally, it’s just not engaging content. There's also no objective in using AI for this. They could take photos, use those from stock libraries, or stick with their tried-and-tested illustrations," said Will Lee, managing director at That Marketing Guy, adding that there was also a lack of responsibility in checking the work. He said:

AI has been known to generate flawed visuals, and the tech isn't mature enough to be allowed to be used in actual work.

Lee added that while it is a good sign that MOF are open to trying new things, there’s also the editing part of the process. "We have to understand what’s good and what isn’t," he said. 

"The marketing and advertising industry has always been known to embrace new forms of technology. We probe and prod at them, push them to their limits, and at times even break them. And what people don't see is what’s left on the editing floor," he said. 

Jeff Cheong, chief executive officer at DDB Group Singapore also explained that for a government agency to try out new tools with their content team, he is encouraged because this is shows receptiveness to experiment. However, there must be a purpose and idea behind the use of gen AI.

"Tools such as gen AI come alive when the right human talents use it," he said. Cheong added that the creative team at DDB decided to reimagine how the photo by MOF could have looked like and used a number of AI tools and Photoshop to come up with the below image:

Delivering a standard

Saying that, generative AI has notoriously been known for being a "hit or miss" when it comes to illustrating people, according to Robert Gaxiola, managing partner at PLAYBOOK XP. 

In the end it is really a matter of taste. It doesn’t matter if AI was used or if an airbrush was used. You still need to deliver a standard.

"I have never used it in a finished ad or poster because the current start of AI images is still a little creepy and this is why people are likely throwing stones at this one," he said, added that the image also lacks the emotion an editorial photograph could bring to the idea.

"It is all still very cowboy right now with imagery and video. I think the new tools are evolving very fast and we must be leading this as creators. We also need to learn from our mistakes as we go and do it better. AI imagery and video gave us speed, and it radically reduces costs, but it is currently a microwave dinner so it must be used with caution," he said. 

However, Gaxiola admits that given the subject of the advertisement, it could have been much worse if MOF had tried to rush out a photograph that cast four people who don’t know each other, with two kids outdoors and no time on its side. "If you have ever done a shoot with kids, you know what I mean. Shooting cats is easier," he said. 

The potentials of AI

In tandem, Ali Shabaz, who used to be the chief creative officer at M&C Saatchi Group Singapore said that its good that Singaporeans are paying close attention to the advertisements we are producing as this will ensure that advertisers will invest in quality and that’s of benefit to everyone including the advertiser.

"Even though AI is still developing, people are seeing the potential of what it can do. This image is poorly done and feels like the advertiser didn’t really put in an effort. It insults the sensibilities of the viewer and thus the strong reaction," he said. 

Shabaz added that AI is her to stay and needs to be embraced fully with experimentation but that there is a quality standard that we cannot fall below. 

"Advertising and marketing have always depended on human creativity, and that can’t be supplemented by AI," he said. "The more we get skilled with the AI and understand it’s potential and limitations, the better the ads we can produce. The future of advertising will be dictated by how creative we can get with AI – not how AI can get creative," he said. 

Agreeing with him, Andy Greenaway, CEO and CCO of The TAO of Advertising said that new tech in advertising should be viewed as a tool.

"It is there to improve quality and save time. If it can't do both of those things, then it is a bad tool," he said, explaining that it's about context.

"Let's take another technology, Polaroid, as an example. Polaroid is good for people who want to capture the memories of a party, or an informal setting. The quality is not important, but the feeling and intimacy is. But Polaroid is not appropriate for a photographer, a professional who is being paid thousands of dollars to make a brand, a BMW car, for instance, look great," he said.

Greenaway added that this analogy also applies to AI. It needs to reach a certain benchmark before it can be considered as a viable option. "In this case, it obviously didn't meet the standard required," he said. 

This seems to be the case for many brands nowadays that have attempted experimenting with AI in their ads. Recently, Toys "R" Us saw its sentiments plummet from 12.2% positive, 13.5% negative and 74.3% neutral to 3.4% positive, 53.4% negative and 43.2% neutral after it released an ad that was entirely created by OpenAI's new text-to-video tool, Sora, according to media intelligence firm CARMA.

According to CARMA, many netizens expressed "disappointment" and "frustration" with the ad, calling it "soulless" and "cynical", according to its world cloud after the incident.

Some commented on the use of an AI-generated child actor, while others noted that the ad did not show any real children playing with toys.

The ad in questions features a young Charles Lazarus, founder of Toys "R" Us and creator of Geoffrey the Giraffe, dreaming of a magical place that will change toy stores forever.

The importance of experimentation

Meanwhile, Kunal Jeswani, group CEO of Ogilvy Singapore & Malaysia is of the view that no one should stop experimenting in this business.

"There will always be people applauding what you do and people pulling you down. That’s just the way human behavior on the net has developed. Live with it and move on. If you choose a safe path where no one has anything to criticise, your work will just disappear without people even noticing it,” he said. 

Sure enough, AI has massively changed the way we work this year with 47% of organisations allocating teams for the implementation of generative AI (Gen AI) in marketing campaigns. In fact, organisations are already investing in generative AI for marketing and have dedicated 62% of their total marketing technology budget towards it.

Jeswani added that everyone on the Internet has access to AI technology. He said:

If the work we produce with AI as marketers and advertisers is not significantly better than what someone sitting at home can do with a free AI tool, our work will look tacky, and people will say it looks tacky.

Jeswani added that marketers should not use AI because it is cheaper or faster to get work out. "That will lead to lazy work that has no consumer connection. Focus on ensuring you have a strong creative idea first. Then use AI to improve the production process (not replace it). It needs to be deployed to make the work better, more engaging and more personalised,” he said. 

True enough, currently, 50% of consumers are able to spot AI-generated copies. In a study by Bynder, it was revealed that millennials were the most successful at spotting non-human content which comes as no surprise as the demographic is also the most likely to use AI when creating content.

Interestingly, the survey also revealed that 56% of participants said that they preferred the AI version over the human-made work. 52% of consumers cited that they would become less engaged if they suspect a copy is AI-generated.

In contrast, participants aged 16 to 24 were the only age group to find the content created by a human more engaging than the AI-generated version (55%).

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