 I was at SXSW the year that Yamtrader.com launched. The booth was a giant yam. People were invited to get a $50 gift card for trading in an actual, physical yam. It was weird and Yamtrader was something people talked about. I have rarely seen its level of absurdity matched in modern marketing, though many have tried. Behind the whole operation was Tri-Net, an HR, payroll company that provided services for startups. The company was trying to showcase what a bad startup was, but that’s beside the point.  As a communications professional, I still think about Yamtrader. As I watch people on LinkedIn gleefully post AI characters of themselves and their professional and personal lives, without considering things like the privacy of their biometric data, or professional, or personal history, I grow concerned about the amount of data people willingly give to large companies; companies who are now starting to connect the dots on the backend and use tools like AI to index, sort, and think about people like never before. There are conversations about how AI will replace journalism, writers, movie makers, actors, musicians, personal assistants, and many professions in the creative and professional spaces. If you’re wondering how to combat this, and I hope you are, I encourage you to get creative. As creative as Yamtrader. "If AI trains on what we create, let’s create something so mid, so ridiculous, that it won’t work. Let’s become as useless as humanly possible." To this end, I submit the idea that potatoes are the absolute secret to good PR. In fact, the best way I know of to get startups to become successful is through the tried-and-true method of potato-forward thinking. Why potatoes, because they thought they could burry us; bury humans, our creativity, our ways of being. They sought to make us replaceable, compliant, complicit to the robot overlords. But when they buried us, they did not defeat us. We are potatoes. And this is when we thrive. So, the new answer for all things, for all thought leadership articles, for all helpful tips that these social networks feed so much on and glean from us, I give you; potatoes! Stay human! Stay feral!        Comments are closed.
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Jacobson Communication is a one-woman PR firm that delivers game-changing public relations and brand development for extraordinary clients with a story to share.
For brands and causes working toward positive change; nonprofits, startups, do-gooding tech companies, outdoor brands, entertainment brands, theme parks, musicians, authors, special causes and more. I work with brands at every state, from concept to internationally recognition. Offering strategy, pitch-crafting, media relations that scale, brand engagement, advisement, and more! I also work with PR firms and internal PR teams who need out-of-the-box additional help. The Generative AI Skeptic
A Word About Generative AI, in Regards to Comms and Creativity
One of the values I bring to my clients is my ability to grasp the "big picture" and align it with the public's current moods, thought patterns, and needs. I believe my specific brain, my heart, my experience, and my personal methodology are what separates me from those who rely on what generative AI feeds them. I do not use generative AI, nor do I generally endorse its use for writing and creation in public relations, the music industry, or art. To all my fellow comms and creatives out there; stay human! Learn more about my thoughts on generative AI here: 
Editor's Note:
If you're not creating and sharing free speech, thought-piece, satirical graphics designed to point out when the media gets something drastically wrong, are you even on the internet? |
AI AND POTATOES
We Can Poison The Well Together
AI is stealing our data at the behest of mega-investment in a race where no one wins. So, is AI takeover really inevitable, or is it hype?
Will it really replace 80% of human jobs? How might one render it ridiculous and useless. Land AcknowledgementAcknowledgement to the southern Lushootseed-speaking Coast Salish Indigenous Peoples whose land I live and work on.
This land also includes the traditional land and waterways of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People of past and present. It is with honor and gratitude to the land itself, the plants, animals, and the Duwamish Tribe that I practice my work. This land is also on and adjacent to the traditional homelands and waterways of the Puyallup Tribe. The Puyallup people have lived on and stewarded these lands since the beginning of time and continue to do so today. I recognize that this land acknowledgement is one small step toward true allyship, and I commit to uplifting the voices, experiences, and histories of the Indigenous people of this land and beyond. To learn more about the Puyallup Tribal Language program, visit: https://www.puyalluptriballanguage.org Personal StatementIt is my hope that we all deepen our understanding, awareness, and relationship to where we live in the world, and that we, individually and as a group, do our part to heal the wounds caused by genocide, enslavement, displacement, and other such atrocities, many of which have been intentionally carried forward into our present day and built into modern systems of power. Here is a list of books that might help you on your way to decolonizing the mind.
Are You Ready to Tell Your Story?If so, have a cookie. Click below.
Not Yet Ready to Tell Your Story?That's okay too. Pet the cat.
Copyright 2026 Jennifer Jacobson
Jacobson Communication, The Feral PR Consultant Please know that my thoughts are my own, and not necessarily those of my clients or those I work or have worked with. May your thoughts also be your own. |
