T-Mobile for Business

Sometimes, I like to reserve this space to talk about bad writing, too.

This was an ad the CMO of T-Mobile once posted on LinkedIn a while back. I get it that it was probably just a graphic some team made for a scheduled post, but what got me is what the words say.

Do you know anyone that says the phrase “Business Internet” out loud in a real life conversation? Sure, I get what it means, and I can guarantee it drove some clicks…but, it is increasingly feeling like this is what we’re reduced to—made up phrases that drive traffic.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this was an AI generated phrase, but it was almost certainly tested and delivered positive results. It’s hard to argue with statistics, but they don’t tell the whole story (which happens to be a tactic used to dissuade dissent—leaving details out).

Who’s clicking on this? Who’s following through and making a purchase? Who is sticking around after they’ve spent their first initial round of money? Those questions are harder to answer and that’s why the stats on click throughs will always win.

This is but one tiny example, but we’re living in an era that has consistently devalued craft. There’s no messaging here that makes T-Mobile seem like a unique intetity. It’s just another business doing the same thing that other businesses like it do. And when we place no worth in the craft of a piece of messaging, it sure makes it easier for an alogrithm to repeat. We’re feed ourselves to the machines.

So those worried about the AI takeover should be pretty concerned that we are becoming complicit in the whole deal. Not to mention the fact that if you’re going to use AI (or at least what appears to be AI, or phrasing that AI would come with) to create an ad, you could at least do a better job of superimposing that glass of water.