Deepfakes Will Change Advertising Forever
If you, like millions of home-bound Americans, watched The Last Dance featuring the life and times of Michael Jordan. You may have noticed an ad for State Farm. You may not have noticed, but you were watching the future.
The StateFarm ad featured people making predictions for the future from the times of when Jordan played for the NBA. Forbes stated, “Deepfakes are going to wreak havoc on society. We are not prepared.” Deepfakes makes “buyer beware” almost impossible.
The word deepfakes comes from the phrase “deep learning” and the word “fake.” Some believe the word was first used in 2017. It is powered by a new learning method called “generative adversarial networks (GANs). Let’s get out of the geek talk: Basically, this technology allows you to create realistic-looking photos and videos of people saying and doing anything–even if they did not do it. Impersonations are one thing, this is super realistic to the point you can’t tell that it is fake.
Video has already moved the world to response and action. But imagine if you can’t believe what you see is true. The benefits are you can have John Wayne star in a new movie even though he passed many years ago. The downside is you can have John Wayne say damaging things about someone and not know it is not true.
Forbes estimates that “deepfake content online is growing at a rapid rate.” In 2019 there were estimated nearly 8,000 deepfake videos online. Less than a year later there were nearly 15,000.
The truth is out there. But it is going to get very hard to know what to believe. Hopefully, technology is coming that can detect and alert you to the deepfake. For now, double check and verify before you believe and act on the information.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
