The AI “lemon” test.*
Prompt: writing as an expert in advertising, brand advertising, and advertising history, could AI, based on pattern recognition technology, ever come up with an ad that's as unique and original as the famous "lemon" ad for VW?
Perplexity.ai: AI powered by pattern recognition technology can create advertising that is highly effective, personalized, and sometimes surprisingly creative, but there is little evidence that it can consistently produce ads as genuinely original or disruptive as the famous Volkswagen "lemon" ad without human conceptual intervention.
AI's Creative Limitations
Recent studies and creative professionals widely agree that while AI excels at speed, data-driven personalization, and generating high-quality ad content, it remains limited in producing truly original, disruptive concepts. AI often draws on existing patterns and vast datasets—making it excellent at imitating style, optimizing messaging, and even surprising viewers—but its work tends to lack the cultural daring and strategic ingenuity of history-changing campaigns like the "lemon" ad. Human creativity involves reframing cultural meaning, subverting expectations, and inventing new emotional connections, which are fundamentally difficult for pattern-driven AI.
AI's Role in Modern Advertising
AI can generate ads that are engaging and authentic, and it increasingly contributes to ad personalization and message targeting. Some research finds audiences may not even distinguish between AI and human-generated ads if the content feels authentic and relevant. However, most game-changing moments in advertising—such as the "lemon" headline—come from creative leaps, risk-taking, and cultural insight that remain quintessentially human.
Expert Perspective
Advertising experts generally argue that AI's pattern recognition is ideal for optimizing campaigns and scaling creative output but is much less likely to produce one-of-a-kind, history-defining ideas without human partnership. Iconic ads challenge preconceived notions, introduce radically new frames, and achieve emotional resonance through narrative surprise and strategic storytelling, areas where human intuition outpaces algorithmic patterning.
In summary, while AI can support, enhance, and sometimes surprise with creative advertising, original breakthroughs like VW's "lemon" ad still depend on uniquely human inventiveness, especially when breaking norms, subverting meaning, and crafting cultural moments.
*Written with the help of AI. Actually, except for the prompt, AI wrote the whole damned thing.
