Advantage+ "Add overlays", dynamic overlays and standard labels: the text Meta puts on top of your image

The solid bar with your headline that appeared on top of your carefully designed image is one of three overlay features. Two of them only apply to catalogue ads. Here is which is which and how to switch them off.

Adlio teamPublished 31 August 20263 min read

Three overlay features, one confusion

Meta has three enhancements that put text on top of your media, and they get mixed up because the interface names have changed:

Label (Meta, 31 Aug 2026)	Meta's description	Applies to	API key
Add overlays (formerly "Image templates")	"shows text you provide along with your selected ad creative when it is likely to improve performance"	single image ads	`image_templates`
Dynamic overlays	"show information from your catalog such as prices or discounts in a label on your ad media"	catalogue ads	`add_text_overlay`
Standard labels	"Automatically highlight information about your products, such as products on sale, in an info label"	catalogue ads	part of catalogue standard enhancements

The rename is documented on Meta's side too: the January 2025 developer note on the Standard Enhancements deprecation labels the key image_template as "Add overlays", and Metalla's August 2025 guide writes "Add Overlays (formerly Image Templates)".

What Add overlays does to a normal image ad

It takes text you already provided (typically the headline) and renders it onto the image in one of Meta's templates, when Meta predicts that helps. Jon Loomer's 2024 walkthrough describes "a solid block bar at the top of images with your headline" and recommends switching it off. SparkUGC (August 2026) notes it "collides with your designed text", which is the common failure: your creative already has a headline baked in, Meta adds a second one.

It is on by default for eligible ads unless you opt out, like most enhancements ("Some enhancements may be turned on by default, but you can turn them off at any time", Meta help).

Dynamic overlays and standard labels: catalogue only

If you run Advantage+ catalogue ads, two more features add badges: price and discount labels (dynamic overlays) and sale labels (standard labels). HyperFX's complaint is representative: it "stacks badges on top of carefully designed product photography". For catalogue ads the control is per creative through add_text_overlay and the catalogue standard-enhancement keys; vendors also describe a catalogue-level setting, but we could not find that in Meta's own documentation, so treat it as unconfirmed and check the ad.

Adlio does not create catalogue ads today, so these two do not apply to ads launched through Adlio.

How to turn Add overlays off

Per ad: Enhancements panel, switch off "Add overlays". If it is not visible, Meta's help says "Some enhancements can only be turned off in Advanced preview".
Bulk: Ads tab, select same-format ads, Edit dropdown, "Advantage+ creative", toggle, publish.
API: "image_templates": {"enroll_status": "OPT_OUT"} inside degrees_of_freedom_spec.creative_features_spec. This is one of the keys Adlio verified live and sends on every image creative by default; the per-account toggle lets you switch it on if you actually want the templates.

The design-side fix

If your images carry their own headline, there is no version of Add overlays that helps: two headlines on one image is the outcome either way. Keep the message in the image or in the copy fields, not both, and keep image text inside the safe zones so Meta's own placement crops do not push it out. The export rules are in image specs for bulk launches.

Verify

Preview one ad from the batch on Feed and one on Stories. A bar, badge or text block that is not in your file means an overlay ran. With Adlio the batch is paused, so this check costs a minute; it is check 7 on the pre-launch QA checklist. The broader picture of all enhancements and their controls is in how to turn off Advantage+ creative enhancements.

If you launch in bulk, the cheapest place to switch this off is at creation: Adlio sends the opt-out for this and every other enhancement key on every creative it creates. See bulk upload Facebook ads with enhancements off.

Frequently asked questions

Why did my ad get a text bar I never designed?+

That is Add overlays, which Meta describes as "a generative AI feature that shows text you provide along with your selected ad creative when it is likely to improve performance." It was called Image templates until 2025. Jon Loomer described the result as a solid block bar with your headline and recommended turning it off; an expert quoted by Ads Uploader put it as "It looks pretty awful."

Do overlays apply to non-catalogue ads?+

Add overlays does (single image ads). Dynamic overlays ("information from your catalog such as prices or discounts in a label") and Standard labels ("products on sale, in an info label") are catalogue features. If you do not run catalogue ads, only Add overlays concerns you.

What are the API keys?+

image_templates for Add overlays (Meta's guide maps it to that label; the January 2025 changelog spelled it image_template), add_text_overlay for dynamic overlays on catalogue items. Adlio opts out of image_templates on every image creative.

Sources

Adlio team

Built by media buyers who launch Meta ads in volume. Questions or corrections: support@adlio.ai.

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