You are now entering Ad Space, a realm of commercials, brought before us so we might examine how they work, and discuss why we both love and hate them so. So it is written …

The Product:
ADP Assist

The Promotion:

The Pitch:
Replace all your workers with machines! Will they do as good a job as people, you ask?
…
Why worry about it?

Wow.

Here at Ad Space, we’ve covered a lot of commercials that did a poor job conveying their message. But I don’t think I’ve seen one that delivered the exact opposite of its intended message quite like this one.

The beginning and end of the ad are all about how “machine learning” is here, it’s the future, and you need ADP Assist to keep your business from being left behind. Meanwhile, everything in the middle of the ad is about how going all-in on smart technology to replace your workers is a terrible idea.

It’s basically going, “Sure, it’d be nice not to deal with surly or underperforming employees. But at least you can talk to them, tell them to do better – try doing that with the AI equivalent of a borked printer or the vending machine where the candy just won’t drop.”

I mean, maybe the intent was that this is the sort of bad experience you’d have with automation if you don’t get ADP Assist, but that’s not how it comes across. It very much seems like it’s trying to sell you on the new, scary, untested technology … by showing you all the ways relying on technology can go bad.

It’s so thoroughly bass-ackwards, I can’t help wondering if it’s the folks in marketing, worried about AI replacing their jobs, doing a little quiet rebellion.