I think both are kind of silly takes.

Ok, let’s get this out of the way first – can ChatGPT write good headlines? My opinion is no. But it’s for a simple reason and it’s nothing that can be prompt engineered away. AI doesn’t have experience being a human so it can’t create a simple, meaningful connection to humans. It doesn’t fully understand humor, or wordplay, or solving problems by creating an unexpected solution that is just so perfect.

You can bloat your prompt with all kinds of context and it still won’t be able to “act as an advertising copywriter” because there are some things that just come from the experience of being human. And this is one of those things (I feel) is more than just taking a brief and using words in there to explain a product benefit. It will “act” as a shitty copywriter who just wants to get something sold in and go home and work on their screenplay.

Ok, so let’s do one with ChatGPT4:
Prompt: I want you to act as an advertising copywriter. You will create headlines for a campaign promoting OH! an oat milk that is organic, smooth and creamy and made with 100% oats. Your target audience is men and women ages 35-50 who have children and want to have a healthier alternative to animal milk and are interested in exploring a more plant-based diet for both health and environmental reasons. The brand voice is funny, optimistic, surprising and even a little self deprecating or sarcastic. The main idea behind this campaign should be that OH! is surprisingly good for you, your family and the planet. Please come up with 10 headlines for an out of home campaign.

1. "OH! Oat Milk: So Good, You'll Forget It's Made from Plants!"

2. "Cows Rejoice! OH! Oat Milk Has Your Family Covered"

3. "Family Health Boost? OH! Yeah, It's Oat Milk Time!"

4. "OH! Oat Milk: Saving the Planet, One Creamy Sip at a Time"

5. "Your Kids Won't Believe It's Not Dairy: OH! The Power of Oats"

6. "OH! It's Not Milk: It's Oat Milk Magic in a Bottle!"

7. "Moo-ve Over Dairy: OH! Oat Milk Is the Family's New Best Friend"

8. "Oats, Camera, Action! OH! Oat Milk Steals the Show"

9. "OH! No Cows Were Harmed in the Making of This Oat Milk"

10. "Planetary Love in a Glass: OH! Oat Milk, the Earth's BFF"

Can you come up with 10 more that connect the brand to using less water?

1. "OH! Oat Milk: Quench Your Thirst, Not the Earth's Resources"

2. "Cows Drink Water, OH! Oat Milk Saves It: Make the Switch Today"

3. "Drop by Drop: OH! Oat Milk Is the Earth-Friendly Choice"

4. "From Oats to Glass: OH! Oat Milk's H2O-Saving Secret Revealed"

5. "OH! Oat Milk: Making Waves in Sustainable Sipping"

6. "Thirsty for Change? Go with OH! Oat Milk and Save the Planet"

7. "OH! Oat Milk: The Dairy-Free, Water-Wise Family Favorite"

8. "Every Sip Counts: Choose OH! Oat Milk for a Water-Smart Future"

9. "Dive into OH! Oat Milk: The Splash-Free Way to Enjoy a Creamy Treat"

10. "OH! Oat Milk: Because Your Family Deserves a Greener, Cleaner Drink"

What if you have only three words for your headline?

1. "OH! Water-Wise"

2. "Sip Sustainably, OH!"

3. "Eco-Creamy Goodness"

4. "OH! Planet-Friendly"

5. "Oats Save H2O"

6. "Green Sip Revolution"

7. "OH! Eco-Indulgence"

8. "Sustainably Delicious, OH!"

9. "Hydration Conservationists"

10. "Low-Water Luxury"

thanks for your help.

You're welcome! If you need any more assistance or creative ideas, feel free to ask. Good luck with your campaign!

So is anything good here? No. And again, I feel like it’s because when it comes to real creativity, generative AI lacks the ability to create ideas based on the experience of being human. That being said, the whole “omg, look how stupid these headlines are” takes are also silly because you don’t ask a coffee maker to whip up a waffle and then boast about how bad your coffee maker is at making waffles and how humans can do it better. It sounds like you don’t understand your tool, and it also kind of sounds like you’re afraid of being replaced. Which you don’t need to be.

Humans are better at emotion. Full stop. And if you get to know your AI toolbox and where and when each can help you, you can move confidently, save plenty of time and have better, stronger work. When I work with generative text AI, I use it for helping me strengthen argumentation on why I think something works. I use it for building presentations and for coming up with outlines for longer form content. And whenever I do use work from Jasper, or ChatGPT the end result is heavily edited. But headlines - never.

Don’t use your coffee machine to make waffles and then complain about it.

Which is, btw, surly an analogy that generative AI wouldn’t have been able to come up with. Wait, let’s check:

Can you come up with 10 analogies for using things in the wrong way?

• “Using a chainsaw to slice bread: unnecessarily dangerous and wildly inefficient."

• "Riding a unicycle to tow a trailer: entertaining, but not at all practical."

• "Using a fishing net to catch a mosquito: overkill for a tiny problem."

• "Navigating a sailboat in a parking lot: going absolutely nowhere."

• "Ice-skating uphill: a slippery, frustrating, and near-impossible endeavor."

• "Planting a tree in a sandbox: destined for failure and disappointment."

• "Washing dishes with a fire hose: excessive force for a simple task."

• "Using a flashlight to find your shadow: misguided and counterproductive."

• "Playing basketball with a bowling ball: cumbersome, painful, and just plain wrong."

• "Taking a hot air balloon to the grocery store: extravagant, impractical, and extremely slow."