The Anti-A.I. Aesthetic: Why Brands Are Proving Their Humanity |
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The Anti-A.I. Aesthetic: Why Brands Are Proving Their Humanity
As A.I.-generated imagery becomes more convincing and consumer distaste for such ads grows, brands are responding by foregrounding craft, texture and human authorship.
The tradition of surrealist photography has always aimed to provoke the wonder, curiosity and healthy discomfort of being in a dream. Today, a surreal photo might elicit a knee-jerk accusation: “This is A.I.-generated.”
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It’s one of the things A.I. has gotten increasingly good at: making outlandish ideas into images that look like real photographs, in defiance of all reason. But audiences are rejecting these as real images. Research from Getty Images’ VisualGPS platform shows that while 74 percent of consumers acknowledge that an A.I.-generated image can be as realistic as a photograph, 78 percent say that, because of its origin, a generated image cannot be considered real.
Le Creuset anticipated this when it launched a new campaign of quirky, surrealist visuals—depicting the brand’s iconic ceramic cookware as realistically boat-sized, bobbing alongside yachts in a harbor—to debut a nautical new color. Which is why they were quick to credit the human artists behind the work, dispelling any suspicions of A.I. in play.
Several other brands have taken a similar tack, even going as far as to call out other brands’ enthusiasm for A.I.-generated content—like in Zevia’s “Real Soda for Real Humans” campaign, which aligns the product’s real ingredients with real, human-made imagery, positioning both as a contrast to its A.I.-happy, overprocessed competitors.
Brands may be having fun with A.I.’s role in the cultural moment, but the implications are serious. As A.I. models become more powerful, it’s getting harder to distinguish between A.I.-generated and human-shot visuals. In response, consumers are actively judging content based on how it was made, forcing brands to see every stage of creation as a potential consumer touchpoint. Demonstrating proof of craft and human creativity has never been more important in building trust.
A.I. skepticism is influencing the........