Mobile Ad Eaters on why bad-looking ads so often win, and how does aesthetics really affect performance?
“It’s always better to have an “ugly” but well-thought-out hook than a polished, soulless video.” – Volha Charnova
“Our eyes and brains are trained to pay attention when something feels different… something that feels ‘wrong’ stops the scroll.” – Amanda Lulewicz
“Rough graphics and bad animations are authentic and honest… it matches (player) expectations of what a ‘real’ mobile game should look like.” – Ivan Grishkevich
The Aesthetic Paradox
In the high-stakes world of user acquisition, we often equate “high production value” with “high performance.” Yet, every UA lead has a horror story about a pixelated, disturbing, or, in other words, “ugly” creative outperforming a six-figure cinematic
Does a lack of polish actually drive profit? Or is “ugliness” simply a shorthand for authenticity and emotional triggers that a polished asset can’t replicate?
For this edition of Mobile Ad Eaters Bites, we asked three industry experts to look past the pixels and explain why the “bad-looking” ads often take the win.
Are Ugly Ads Profitable — or Just Emotionally Manipulative?
First of all, we need to define what “ugly” is.
If it’s simply something we subjectively don’t like, then in my experience, a single opinion is usually far from reality and far from what actually works in campaigns. Before drawing conclusions, always test the ad and look at the real numbers.
If we talk about “ugly” as an example of a disturbing ad, then yes, we see that it often attracts users’ attention and may perform well across markets because it triggers primal emotions.
But while you might gain a quick performance boost, consider your brand and how these negative emotions could affect it. It’s much more consistent to build long-term relationships with your audience through positive emotions: trade disgust for excitement and curiosity.
And sometimes, being ugly is the purpose of the ad. There are no bad ads if they have a clear intention: an emotion to trigger, a story to tell. It’s always better to have an “ugly” but well-thought-out hook than a polished, soulless video.
Scroll-Stopping Creatives: Emotion vs Conversion Quality
Our eyes and brains are trained to pay attention when something feels different, so ugly ads or ads with typos naturally spark curiosity and can stop the scroll. Ads are all about triggering emotions in our target consumers, and something that feels “wrong” does that quite quickly.
Emotions like frustration or confusion get people to pay attention to what your ad has to offer. While the gut reaction stops the scroll, you still want something else in the ad that actually sells them on the product you’re offering to get them to click through and download.
I’ve worked on a lot of products that are very protective of the brand, so I’m always conscious of going too “ugly” or deviating too far from the reality of the game. I think it’s important to think about the quality of users that those types of ads are bringing into your app or game.
There are still ways to trigger emotions without presenting an aesthetic that doesn’t align with your brand, such as a shocking hook, fail states, or showing clearly wrong moves.
It really comes down to your target audience and the experience that would be most appealing to them. Each advertiser should experiment to see what works, and make sure they are looking at more down-funnel metrics to evaluate performance.
Do Polished Ads Really Perform Better at Tripledot Studios?
We tend to think that more polish means a better chance of success. I did occasionally – with mixed results – test the hypothesis of how a creative will perform if we intentionally “enshitify” it.
Rough graphics and bad animations are authentic and honest in what they convey to players. It matches their expectations of what a “real” mobile game should look like. It also helps overcome banner blindness by its sheer oddness and “truth”. That’s a psychology theory.
Now for reality. Ugly creatives can come up on top because they’re first among many to test a certain concept, first to be liked by an algorithm, and they’ve been developed by a creative team still honing their craft. And there are plenty of teams that haven’t achieved polish, but that doesn’t stop them from experimenting.
I believe in substance over style, and in a timely manner.
Join Mobile Ad Eaters Retreat 2026
If you want to keep this conversation going in person, Mobile Ad Eaters Retreat (April 23-24) is back in Prague – a creative-focused event for CMOs, UA & Creative Leads, Creative Producers, and Creative Strategists in mobile gaming.
In 2025, we brought together 100 of mobile gaming’s top creative minds for a new kind of event built on connection. This year we’re scaling to150 top industry voices, with speakers already confirmed from Supercell, Zynga, Playtika, Outfit7, Nazara, Nitro Games, and more.
Want to hear more?
Talk to 150 creative minds in person
