Cross-Channel Copywriting Slop

We know that action-driven calls-to-action (CTAs) result in more clicks. But when you're running an ad on a non-click platform, why are copywriters still using CTAs?

Context: I was eating at Red Robin with my kids (as lazy dads do when their spouses are out of town). And if there's one thing about the American chain dining experience, it's televisions in every corner. If you're at Buffalo Wild Wings (B-DUBS, if you're at or below a certain income bracket), there are literally 15 TVs in the dining area.

It's an American tradition that the European mind could never comprehend.

I'm lucky enough to know how to watch shows without ads, so my kids don't see them very often. Seeing TV ads is a big deal to them and a bit nostalgic for me. So when my choices have led me to a chain restaurant booth, I like to see what's happening in the world of big brand advertising.

It's.... weird.

Today I'll be focusing on this specific ad from Land Rover:

Did you see at the end?

"Explore available offers." Why does it have a digital marketing style CTA but it's on the TV at Red Robin next to a portrait of Leonardo DaVinci in a Ninja Turtles mask?

I'm eating microwaved pretzel bites and flash-fried mozzarella twists; I'm not in a position to "Explore* available offers".

Here's what I think happened in the offices of Carat and/or Spark44 when writing this ad:

"During the client's legal review, their counsel said that 'Go anywhere. Now that you can' and 'Drive the next generation' were making promises they weren't comfortable the brand could fulfil. So they'd like us to use the approved copy from the digital marketing campaign."

"On TV? They want us to use 'Click here to find deals near you' on a TV ad?"

"Oh... hmm, they probably didn't mean that one. What was the other ad's call to action?"

"It's 'Explore available offers', but that's just as—"

"Right, that's the one. Let's use that one so we can move this through legal and then get the campaign live."

"Fine."

Can LLMs Be Making Us This Dumb, This Fast?

This ad isn't hurting anyone in any meaningful way; if Land Rover can afford to run these commercials during basketball games, they can afford to run commercials that don't matter. Brand awareness isn't one of those hard, quantifiable metrics; it's a vibe.

But what worries me is that this is an indication of the industry as a whole. We're 2, 3 years into LLMs, and it seems that AI leads to significant cognitive decline. Just look at the results from this MIT study on AI use and cognition where participants wrote an essay from either their brains alone, a search engine, or with an LLM:

• "Brain connectivity systematically scaled down with the amount of external support" (ie, people with the most support – LLM users – had the least brain action measured by an EEG)
• "LLM-to-Brain participants showed weaker neural connectivity and under-engagement"
• "The reported ownership of LLM group's essays in the interviews was low"
• "The LLM group also fell behind in their ability to quote from the essays they wrote just minutes prior"

So, the LLM group

1. Weren't engaged in deep thinking
2. Didn't feel a strong sense of ownership over their writing
3. Weren't even able to remember what they'd "written" minutes before

I'm not saying "All ads from my childhood were better" or "Everyone used to be smarter". Watching any of those old commercial compilations shows the massive survivorship bias in the ads we remember; the good stuff floats to the top.

But I think there's something happening with AI in copywriting. There have always been lazy ads. yet with a brand as historied and traditionally interesting as Land Rover, you'd expect their brand team to... give slightly more of a damn?

"Explore available offers" just feels like AI slop, even if it isn't. It feels like a big-T Truth about our cultural moment, even if it's not little-t "true".

I'm not an AI doomer; I use it all the time for specific tasks. (Hell, I've also used it to write copy for a global brand.)

*(Can we accept that "Explore" is one of those action verbs you use on a CTA when you're tired and ready to move on? When was the last time anyone "Explored" when a button told them to? "Hold on boss, I gotta grab my cargo pants and pith helmet because this website button said I'm exploring." It means nothing and needs to be retired.)