In the past few months, it feels like AI-generated flyer and ads have absolutely flooded modern life, and Houston is no exception.
On my Instagram feed, uncanny, not-quite photorealistic ads with images of Lionel Messi implore me to come to my local bar to watch the World Cup. Graphics of faux-neon signs in colors that are almost true-to-life tell me to come to happy hours and inform me of lunch specials.
At one of my favorite bars, a TV screen above the bar shows an AI-generated ad for weekly drink specials. On a walk in my neighborhood this week, I looked up. Above me, the LED marquee of a local bar blared “TRIVIA NIGHT” in uncanny neon text next to a clearly fake group of people. While watching Colombia play Ghana at a sports bar a few weeks ago, I noticed the bar had printed out a gigantic, ChatGPT-style banner advertising all of the upcoming World Cup games. Half the carnival rides at the Houston rodeo seemed to have AI-slop on them. Even Houston rap legend Trae Tha Truth isn’t immune.
ChatGPT-generated art comes in all forms, but to borrow from Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, I know it when I see it. And I’ve started seeing it everywhere. Most AI flyer follow roughly the same format: Big, bright text on a dark background with AI-generated pictures that occupy that off-putting realm just below photorealistic. There is almost always a vertically or horizontally stacked box with three bullet points about the event or promotion, and text is usually circled or underlined for emphasis. A lot of these use a font meant to look like it’s been scribbled on with a marker, like this one. (Seriously, Canes?)
It’s one thing to see this stuff on Facebook, but there’s something unsettling about seeing slop that was made on the computer not just creep, but absolutely flood, the physical world. As Jason Koebler at 404 Media points out, it’s gotten so bad that bars and coffee shops around the country have started banning people from hanging AI flyer in their establishments. A close friend showed me a flyer for a local church’s vacation bible study program that had been stapled to her door. The kids all had the same vaguely anime eyes and smile that AI image generators love to churn out.
I’m not the only person who hates this stuff. Rami Bautista works for a restaurant marketing company and shared examples of restaurants big and small using AI to advertise. He explained to me that while it may seem lazy, many small restaurants, already squeezed by inflation and thin margins, feel they have no choice but to turn to AI to get people in the door.
“It’s very easy to understand why it’s so prevalent,” he said. “If you can only post something simple, and the shop across the street has these fancy graphics, they’d feel like they’re getting left behind. AI is so effortless—you just type in what you want, and it spits it out.”
Some of my favorite bars and restaurants have fallen victim to the slop arms race, and I can understand feeling like you have to hop on a trend to stay ahead of your competitors. But at the same time, these flyer don’t look nice. When I see one, it just bums me out, and I can’t help but think most people feel the same. I sort of assume that anything, whether it’s a drag event or a comedy show, that uses AI to announce itself will be as put-together as the Willy Wonka Chocolate Experience. Bautista agrees.
“Whenever I see one, it makes me not want to go to that event,” he said. “AI-generated content has definitely gotten better over the last couple of years, but there’s still that uncanny valley to it that makes me uneasy.”
I also can’t help but think of out-of-work artists and graphic designers I know, who regularly make amazing, eye-popping flyer for shows and events. Houston may not be known as artsy a city as, say, New York City or Los Angeles, but there are a ton of creatives here that I’m sure would love to put something together for a local haunt.
Trawling through mountains of AI slop for this story has made me realize just how much I value something that’s made with genuine human hands. When you look at enough flyer made with image generators, they all look exactly the same. Nothing stands out, and you become numb to it. Not to mention that if you couldn’t put more than a few ChatGPT queries into your ads, what else are you cutting corners on? Every AI-generated restaurant ad I’ve seen makes the food look like it’ll give me the diarrhea parasite. Please, I’d rather you just make something in Microsoft Paint.