Advertising has an advertising problem: recruiting the next wave of creative talent in the Age of AI.
How replaceable am I? It’s a question many of us have probably grappled with recently. Are we the last generation of human advertising creatives? Do we need to start thinking about second careers? It’s hard to compete with something so much faster, cheaper, and, at least lately, trendier than you. But what if AI isn’t replacing our jobs as much as filling the gaps because of a lack of human talent?
The more pressing issue plaguing our industry might stem from the death of the humanities major rather than the rise of AI.
Humanities majors cover a series of interdisciplinary fields that study human society and culture, including art history, English literature, sociology, and political science, among others. Iambic pentameter might seem tangential to advertising, but it has more of a tie-in than you might think. These majors serve as a breeding ground for future advertising creatives and copywriters, fostering the understanding of and appreciation for “words and pictures” that have served as the backbone of our industry since its inception. According to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 7% of humanities majors go on to work in arts, design, entertainment, and media spaces after receiving their degree; in the UK, that stat is even more staggering. Per The Guardian, “60% of the UK's leaders have humanities, arts or social science degrees.” Critical writing taught through these disciplines teaches the power of persuasion, an inherent understanding necessary to succeed in advertising.
In a February 2023 piece for The New Yorker, Nathan Heller charted the decline of the English major, noting that humanities majors have seen a 17% dip in the United States, a trend mirrored globally. In the piece, Heller notes that, “in 2022, though, a survey found that only seven per cent of Harvard freshmen planned to major in the humanities, down from twenty percent in 2012, and nearly thirty percent during the nineteen-seventies.” Certain departments are doubling down on explaining the real-world application of an English degree. For instance, per Heller, two Emory deans used a grant from The Mellon Foundation to create a career preparedness program for humanities majors. But if efforts like this one don’t prove powerful enough to counteract a shift away from “useless majors,” our industry might find itself with a big problem.
A recent New York Times opinion piece notes “a hopeful sign that AI could usher in a world of work…anchored more, not less, around human ability.” Generative AI like ChatGPT has shown us how mundane, expected, and manufactured robot generated ideation is. AI learns by scanning existing data, making it inherently derivative. The thing is, we don’t need more of what’s already been done. This business needs creative thinkers and strategists. People with the soft skills fostered by humanities majors that can use AI as a tool to create something original and memorable, then go on and sell it.
So, what’s the industry to do? As humanities major enrollments dip, the FAANGs of the world have done an excellent job of marketing degrees in STEM, and enrollment is soaring. The number of students seeking four-year degrees in computer science and information technology increased by 41%, in the last four years alone. While millions of students enroll in science majors, and eventually turn toward careers as software engineers, product managers, and more, soft skills – the more theoretical, critical, and creative skills that make us human – have become undervalued, thinning out the advertising industry’s entry-level talent pipeline.
We as an industry need to take a page from the Metas and Apples of the world, implementing our spin on the playbook they have used to spike STEM enrollment. That means collaborating with and investing in liberal arts programs to co-develop curricula that introduce students to the field of advertising earlier and open the aperture on a wider pool of potential candidates as opposed to the smaller cohorts that make it to graduate advertising schools, such as the Miami Ad Schools or VCU Brandcentres. Additionally, studying and celebrating accomplished industry role models will help students envision successful career paths in advertising. By turning our attention toward nurturing, encouraging, and educating the next generation of writers, strategists, and problem solvers and encouraging a career in advertising, we have the power to ensure a world where AI operates as a tool rather than the whole box.
