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Halfway through the week, folks.
Somewhere in your holiday flight there's a product shot that's a little too perfect. Nobody photographed it. A model made it, and so far nobody has had to say so.
In Pennsylvania, that runs out around Christmas.
Governor Josh Shapiro signed the Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act last Thursday. It's Act 99 of 2026 on the legislature's bill page, and the bill text ends: "This act shall take effect in 60 days." By my count that's the week before Christmas, though I haven't seen an official date.
The core of it: an advertiser can't knowingly, recklessly or willfully put out an ad that uses AI content "in a manner that creates a false consumer perception about the nature, origin or authenticity of the goods or services" without a clear label.
The label has to say the ad "contains content that was modified or generated using artificial intelligence." It has to appear the first time the content does, in the same medium, and where technically possible be "permanent or extraordinarily difficult to remove."
Fines top out at $3,000 plus fees, which won't scare a national advertiser. Being the first named case might.
The Verge points out it applies wherever the ad was made, so a national TV spot that airs there is in scope.
There are holes, and The Verge lists them. "Significantly modified" is subjective. "Evidently fictional" content is exempt, and so is "parody, satire, commentary or criticism." The Verge also reads the law as covering text ads. The bill text I read exempts content "limited to text." Ask your lawyer which of us is right.
The trigger is a false impression, so I'd guess a cartoon mascot is fine and an AI-generated customer holding your product isn't. Legal has to draw that line before the holiday creative is locked.
The fix is boring. Add an AI disclosure field to the creative spec for synthetic product images, people and voices, and make the agency fill it in.
Does anyone on your team know which of this season's ads used AI, and which states they're running in?
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TALK ON THE MARKET
Allie K. Miller, AI business adviser and former Amazon and IBM, on an AI that made a phone call for her:
Somebody at Michaels took that call. Pennsylvania wants a label on AI in ads. Nobody has written one for an AI on the phone to your staff.
Want to see case studies of AI-powered campaigns? We publish a daily edition on the most creative use cases of AI in advertising.
Interested in AI innovation across Europe? We publish a weekly round-up on AI-Ready Europe:
NUMBERS MATTER
70%. Consumers who find personal data used in hyper-personalized AI ads intrusive, in a Snapchat report on a survey of more than 4,200 AI users by Ipsos and WPP, per Social Media Today. And 56% call fully AI-generated content soulless.
Snap sells ads, so this is an ad platform telling advertisers to ease off. I'd listen.
DAILY PROMPT
Our Agency Brief Generator, for the brief that now needs one more constraint:
You are working with a CMO to produce a distribution ready brief for an external agency partner. Read every file attached (brand guidelines, positioning docs, prior briefs, media plans, pipeline or campaign exports) and research the named competitors and category on the web before you draft. Ask up to five clarifying questions only if something essential is missing, then build the brief.
## Project Overview
- Project Name: [PROJECT_NAME]
- Campaign Type: [CAMPAIGN_TYPE] (e.g., brand awareness, product launch, demand generation)
- Target Audience: [TARGET_AUDIENCE]
- Campaign Duration: [START_DATE] to [END_DATE]
- Budget Range: [BUDGET]
## Business Context
- Current Market Position: [MARKET_POSITION]
- Key Competitors: [COMPETITORS]
- Primary Business Objective: [PRIMARY_OBJECTIVE]
- Success Metrics: [KEY_METRICS]
## Creative Direction
- Brand Tone: [BRAND_TONE]
- Key Messages: [KEY_MESSAGES]
- Creative Constraints: [CONSTRAINTS]
- Deliverables Required: [DELIVERABLES]
## Organizational Details
- Internal Stakeholders: [STAKEHOLDERS]
- Approval Timeline: [APPROVAL_TIMELINE]
- Agency Contact Point: [PRIMARY_CONTACT]
- Source Materials Attached: [ATTACHED_FILES]
Create a professional agency brief that includes:
1. Executive Summary (2-3 sentences)
2. Campaign Objectives (3-4 bullet points)
3. Target Audience Profile
4. Key Messages and Positioning
5. Deliverables and Timeline
6. Success Metrics and Reporting
7. Budget Allocation (if applicable)
8. Approval Process and Key Dates
9. Internal Stakeholder Contacts
10. Any Special Considerations or Constraints
Format the brief for immediate distribution to agency partners: clear headers, bullet points, specific numbers, no filler. Where the attached files or your research contradict the inputs above, flag the conflict in a short "Open Questions" list at the end rather than guessing. Then produce a one page version of the same brief for the kickoff call.Put the AI disclosure rule in Creative Constraints and attach the media plan. Then nobody at the agency can say they weren't told.
CMO CORNER
Shared standards beat constant supervision.
You can't review every frame of every holiday ad. A written rule on when AI needs a label, signed by every agency, does the reviewing for you.
We provide consulting services for CMOs on AI strategy for marketing teams through our Teamless offering.
TOOL UPGRADE
Three tools that make exactly what the act is about. Use them, and label it:
ElevenLabs — best for global brands that want natural AI narration in many languages for product demos, onboarding and video. Try ElevenLabs here →
Fliki — best for small teams turning scripts into branded videos with AI voiceovers and stock footage in hours. Try Fliki here →
HeadshotPro — best for teams that want consistent professional headshots from casual selfies, for a one-time fee instead of a photographer. Try HeadshotPro here →
→ We have 300+ curated, filtered, and categorized AI tools in our directory. Browse to find the best ones that help your marketing team.
LEARN THIS
To turn a disclosure rule into a process: the AI Governance Framework for Marketing Organizations. It runs from approval pathways for AI use cases to monitoring, audit and escalation.
→ We publish workshops, courses, guides, manuals, and more on AI marketing for free. Browse our learning resources for free.
BRAND SLOP
Swedesboro Brewing Co., a South Jersey craft brewer, posted a video on October 15 introducing Sarah. "Hey everyone, I'm Sarah, Swedesboro Brewing's new virtual brand ambassador. Yup, I'm AI, not real," she says, PhillyVoice reports.
Perfect disclosure. Commenters hated it anyway: "AI is not a good look for a local craft brewing company," one wrote.
A week later the brewery doubled down with an AI "Mean Comments" video, Sarah reading her critics and insisting "Nobody lost their job." Many commenters said they'd stop drinking its beer. The brewery's actual mascot is a raccoon.
A label wouldn't have saved her. When local is what you sell, why hire someone who doesn't exist to say it?
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