The other day, I received an email.
A researcher at a PR agency got in touch after reading one of my LinkedIn articles. She even mentioned its title. Then came the sentence that deserves to be framed:
“The perspective you shared is exactly the kind of commentary mainstream media are looking for right now. I believe this could make a great feature for Business Insider.”
Seriously?
The article she was referring to was titled “Fascist-Era Hotel Marketing: Marco Avancini and Hotel Advertising Under Fascism.”
If your CRM has concluded that fascist hotel propaganda is exactly the kind of content “mainstream media are looking for right now,” we’re f*cked.
Beyond the Orwellian undertones of the whole thing, there’s a hidden (and very real) cost to AI-powered cold emailing.
It’s not the money companies burn through millions of tokens to send automated emails. It’s the time wasted by the people on the receiving end: opening them, wondering whether they’re genuine, reading them, deleting them, and inevitably ending up writing an online rant about the whole experience…
Just like I’m doing right now.
Multiply that tiny bit of friction across millions of inboxes.
That’s probably a far more accurate measure of the economic cost of AI slop than any report by McKinsey & Company.
My advice?
If you’re going to reach out to someone, take the time to read their work first.
Or train those f*cking models to tell the difference between a historical essay about fascism and an editorial opportunity.
Eja Eja, Alalà!
Until next week. Best regards from Simone.
SIMONE PUORTO
