Ad Firms Are Exploring Deepfaked Commercials (nytimes.com) 35
"With the pandemic having shut down production, companies are asking ad agencies to create commercials made up of digitally altered footage," reports the New York Times, citing a State Farm commercial that aired during an ESPN documentary starring the anchor of "SportsCenter," Kenny Mayne:
The producers made the commercial by layering video of Mr. Mayne's 60-year-old mouth onto footage of his 38-year-old face. To many viewers, the stunt provided a welcome moment of levity in depressing times. Others were made uneasy by the smoothness of the patch, describing it as a type of deepfake. "We tried to make the joke clear enough so that we weren't tricking anyone," said Carrie Brzezinski-Hsu, the head of ESPN CreativeWorks, which created the commercial with the ad agencies Optimum Sports and Translation.
Ms. Brzezinski-Hsu said manipulated footage was likely to appear in future ESPN ads. And executives at several major advertising agencies said they had discussed making similar commercials with their clients in recent weeks. "We're so restricted in how we can generate content," said Kerry Hill, the production director for the ad agency FCB in North America. "Anything that can be computer generated is something we're going to explore."
Husani Oakley, the chief technology officer of the ad firm Deutsch, said digitally altered ads should somehow clue viewers into the fact that what they are seeing is not completely real. "The technology is here, and it's only going to get better and better, and we have to get used to it," he added. "We're exploring ways to have fun with it."
Ms. Brzezinski-Hsu said manipulated footage was likely to appear in future ESPN ads. And executives at several major advertising agencies said they had discussed making similar commercials with their clients in recent weeks. "We're so restricted in how we can generate content," said Kerry Hill, the production director for the ad agency FCB in North America. "Anything that can be computer generated is something we're going to explore."
Husani Oakley, the chief technology officer of the ad firm Deutsch, said digitally altered ads should somehow clue viewers into the fact that what they are seeing is not completely real. "The technology is here, and it's only going to get better and better, and we have to get used to it," he added. "We're exploring ways to have fun with it."
Under the sun (Score:1)
Prior art [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:1)
You seem to be assuming that such a "database" doesn't already exist.
No official comment, other than "read Thomas".
Re: (Score:1)
One in a thousand user ID, one in ten thousand post ID.
Take that as you will.
Re: (Score:1)
Jesus said, "I shall choose you, one out of a thousand, and two out of ten thousand, and they shall stand as a single one."
I'll start you off.
Re: (Score:1)
More for me.
Re: (Score:2)
"I stopped reading at "Jesus"..."
Not a fan of Fantasy?
Re: (Score:1)
Mundane technology. Omniscience has a fantastic database.
Re: (Score:1)
I shall give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and what no hand has touched and what has never occurred to the human mind.
Re: (Score:2)
It's not a patent case... it's a case that this is really scary for those who want reality out of ESPN.
No such problem in Japan (Score:2)
Switch to anime-style ads, nobody will blink.
Re: (Score:2)
If Apple [youtube.com] can do it, anyone can do it!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's the end of visual evidence if this gets unleashed....
Re: (Score:1)
What "if"? It exists now and has for some time, there is no "if" it gets released.
But saying it's the end of visual evidence is as stupid of a claim now as it was (and is) for all the times in the past the same thing happened.
Photographs did not end the concept of evidence when software such as photoshop came to be.
Artists ability to draw realistic images did not end the concept of evidence either.
Typewritters and printers did not end the concept of using typed documents as evidence.
Neither will this.
We've
Re: (Score:2)
No it won't. For millennia, disputes had to be resolved based on the word of one group of people, against the word of another group of people. It's only in the last century and half that recording devices which could accurately preserve audio and video of an incident were invented. Due to how they work, it was assumed that the recording was authentic.
As technology has improved, it's become easier to create spoof recordings which
Re: (Score:2)
For millennia, disputes had to be resolved based on the word of one group of people, against the word of another group of people. It's only in the last century and half that recording devices which could accurately preserve audio and video of an incident were invented. (...) We're just returning to how people lived for the vast majority of human existence.
But with the knowledge of how badly the justice system sucked before modern forensics, both in terms of how many of the guilty who got away and how many innocent we put in jail. Not that it's perfect now, but there's a much bigger chance of justice in 2020 than in 1820.
Photoshop, 1980 (Score:2)
That's what they said in 1980 when Photoshop came out.
Re: (Score:2)
Dishonest photographs (Score:1)
This could render all CCTV footage invalid as evidence in court.
At the end of the day, it's still ads (Score:2)
What the article fails to mention is why I should care about the way they go on my nerves.
Movies are Next.... (Score:2)
By the end of the year, they'll be making entire movies with the same technology.
I've Seen This (Bad) Crichton Movie (Score:3)
Looker (1981) [imdb.com]...
Re: (Score:1)
I was hoping I'ld find this here !
Re: (Score:1)
Schroedinger's Grammarian (Score:1)
"We're so restricted in how we can generate content," said Kerry Hill...
"Anything that can be computer generated is something we're going to explore."
Other prior art (Score:3)
Brought to you by the miracle of Synchro-Vox
! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Exploring ways to have fun with it (Score:2)
Let me correct that for you: we're exploring ways to profit off of it. I suppose that's fun too, but fun is not the primary motivation here.
Clutch Cargo tech (Score:1)
"Mayne's 60-year-old mouth onto footage of his 38-year-old "
Ewwww!
And to think it won't be as obvious as the live mouths on cartoon characters in Clutch Cargo somehow makes it worse.