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> Both of these communicate that I will probably not get a good value for my money when buying your product or service. This is where I stop following. Busines

> Both of these communicate that I will probably not get a good value for my money when buying your product or service. This is where I stop following. Businesses should focus on where they differentiate, and I really don't care how they generate signage if I can read it. I don't get anything by them paying Banksy to make their menu instead of having Gemini generate it. And if there is any connection to getting good value, it's the inverse: I'm more likely to get good value when I'm not paying for fancy advertising. See: every drugstore that puts generics alongside brand names for cheaper.

pynappo 20d ago
Yes, generics are better value, but at least from the big drugstores and pharmacies they still have clean design - they just make it clear what their active ingredient is in what dosage, mention the branded equivalent, and then put the standard drug label on it, and that's about it. The worst generative AI posters and restaurant menus I'm seeing from newer small businesses do not instill the same feeling that I'm getting generic-like value. To keep with the drug analogy, they feel like the combo pills you find somewhere in the back of a gas station which combine 10+ random supplements to help with 20+ different symptoms. Especially for new restaurants where real reviews are limited, menus with terrible AI generated food drawings really give me the same ick - that they might not be providing any good value at all. However, i do admit that part of this is also that i live in an area where there is tons of competition for most cuisines I'm interested in, so I can use menu quality as a differientiating factor in the first place. If enough places around me were using sloppy AI menus i would probably ignore it.
RiverCrochet 20d ago
You're free to ignore signals of cheapness if you want, as well as not care about quality. If you want generic restuarant food I guess you can go to McDonalds instead of a burger place; it's all the same value to you I guess.
- rpdillon 20d ago
  You're using rhetoric to try and change the subject -- you're making a jump from "good value" to "lack of quality", and painting them with the same brush. I'm saying I don't particularly value businesses that focus on things that are low impact for me. I'd rather my barista focus on sourcing good beans and making good coffee than paying someone to do a fancy custom menu for them. We see this all the time when we visit new areas. It's considered naive to follow whatever looks most glitzy -- every seasoned traveler will tell stories about all the tourist traps, and how the real quality is the hole-in-the-wall place all the locals gather. What I'm saying is we shouldn't conflate quality with marketing and advertising, which is what posters are. You seem dead set on doing so anyway, and I'm not sure why.
  - RiverCrochet 19d ago
    > You're using rhetoric to try and change the subject -- you're making a jump from "good value" to "lack of quality", and painting them with the same brush. Correct, I am. I apologize if I gave the impression I was debating. I will absolutely "conflate" quality with marketing and advertising when it's the only signal I have about a company and I don't have the resources to research further. For example, if I'm in a new place, out and about, and looking for somewhere to eat, and only have an hour or so, yes I'm choosing the place without AI slop ads unless I have additional information - especially if the food is generically AI generated. I'd love to have time to deeply research all businesses and companies and ignore ads entirely but that's not always practical. Me learning of your company on Instagram or similar through an AI slop poster ad that looks exactly like the 10 preceding monster-truck-rally AI slop poster ads is a bad impression to me. From comments I've seen on similar Instagram ads, I'm not alone.
- williamcotton 19d ago
  There’s some level of irony around the fact that McDonalds spends quite a lot on branding and design.

pynappo 20d ago

Yes, generics are better value, but at least from the big drugstores and pharmacies they still have clean design - they just make it clear what their active ingredient is in what dosage, mention the branded equivalent, and then put the standard drug label on it, and that's about it. The worst generative AI posters and restaurant menus I'm seeing from newer small businesses do not instill the same feeling that I'm getting generic-like value. To keep with the drug analogy, they feel like the combo pills you find somewhere in the back of a gas station which combine 10+ random supplements to help with 20+ different symptoms. Especially for new restaurants where real reviews are limited, menus with terrible AI generated food drawings really give me the same ick - that they might not be providing any good value at all. However, i do admit that part of this is also that i live in an area where there is tons of competition for most cuisines I'm interested in, so I can use menu quality as a differientiating factor in the first place. If enough places around me were using sloppy AI menus i would probably ignore it.

RiverCrochet 20d ago

You're free to ignore signals of cheapness if you want, as well as not care about quality. If you want generic restuarant food I guess you can go to McDonalds instead of a burger place; it's all the same value to you I guess.

rpdillon 20d ago
You're using rhetoric to try and change the subject -- you're making a jump from "good value" to "lack of quality", and painting them with the same brush. I'm saying I don't particularly value businesses that focus on things that are low impact for me. I'd rather my barista focus on sourcing good beans and making good coffee than paying someone to do a fancy custom menu for them. We see this all the time when we visit new areas. It's considered naive to follow whatever looks most glitzy -- every seasoned traveler will tell stories about all the tourist traps, and how the real quality is the hole-in-the-wall place all the locals gather. What I'm saying is we shouldn't conflate quality with marketing and advertising, which is what posters are. You seem dead set on doing so anyway, and I'm not sure why.
- RiverCrochet 19d ago
  > You're using rhetoric to try and change the subject -- you're making a jump from "good value" to "lack of quality", and painting them with the same brush. Correct, I am. I apologize if I gave the impression I was debating. I will absolutely "conflate" quality with marketing and advertising when it's the only signal I have about a company and I don't have the resources to research further. For example, if I'm in a new place, out and about, and looking for somewhere to eat, and only have an hour or so, yes I'm choosing the place without AI slop ads unless I have additional information - especially if the food is generically AI generated. I'd love to have time to deeply research all businesses and companies and ignore ads entirely but that's not always practical. Me learning of your company on Instagram or similar through an AI slop poster ad that looks exactly like the 10 preceding monster-truck-rally AI slop poster ads is a bad impression to me. From comments I've seen on similar Instagram ads, I'm not alone.
williamcotton 19d ago
There’s some level of irony around the fact that McDonalds spends quite a lot on branding and design.