The tradition of surrealist photography has always aimed to evoke the wonder, curiosity and healthy discomfort of being in a dream. Today, a surreal image might put a loose case: “This is generated by AI.”
It’s one of the things AI is increasingly good at: turning strange ideas into images that look like real images, against all logic. But the audience rejects these as real images. Research from Getty Images’ VisualGPS site shows that while 74 percent of buyers agree that an image created by AI can be as real as a photo, 78 percent say that, due to its origin, the created image cannot be considered real.
Le Creuset anticipated this when it launched ia a new campaign of whimsical, surrealist images—depicting the brand’s signature ceramic cookware as life-size boats, floating alongside boats in the harbor—to bring out a new nautical color. That’s why they’re quick to credit the human artists behind the work, removing any suspicion of AI at play.
Several other brands have taken a similar step, even going so far as to announce enthusiasm for other types of AI-generated content—like Zevia. “Real Soda for Real People”.which matches the product’s real ingredients with a real, human-made image, positioning both as a contrast to its AI-happy, over-processed competitors.
Brands may be excited about AI’s role in the cultural era, but the implications are serious. As AI models become more powerful, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between AI-generated visuals and those shot by a human. To answer, buyers actively judging content based on How done, it forces brands to see every stage of creation as a potential consumer touch point. Showing evidence of one’s craft and ingenuity has never been more important in building trust.
AI skepticism is impacting the market
Generative AI has attracted skeptics since it first gained public attention three years ago, but in the past few months it has felt like a true pendulum swing. Consumers have expressed strong distaste for AI-generated ads for a number of reasons, from environmental concerns to the perceived “laziness” of the advertiser.
The change reached another point at the end of March, when in the period of one news cycle, the famous The AI video generator is disabledthe author’s novel was canceled in AI-generated writingand significant AI productivity deals he fell. The moment served as a brutal reality check for all those inside productive AI, and a powerful vindication of concerns about the promise of limitless, limitless content.
This is not to say that all AI skepticism stems from disdain for the technology outright. People’s views on AI as a whole have it moved welldespite the backlash from its use in brand campaigns and entertainment media. The difference comes from how it is used and what consumers expect from the user. While consumers are ready to use AI in their personal lives, they hold products to a higher standard. A well-known brand must have the resources and ability to invest in people-led innovation. Over-reliance on AI-generated content is not seen as innovation or efficiency, but as a lack of effort.
The growing backlash of AI-generated content is pushing brands to rethink how they use AI in their marketing workflow. It also pushes them to “prove” their content is true; as a result, the pursuit of authenticity has become both a comms goal and an aesthetic endeavor.
What does a person “look like”? The rise of anti-AI beauty
As image generation models have advanced and ingest more training data, the AI “look” of the product has become more subtle. However, certain symptoms remain: a glossy quality, a lack of depth, a “wrong” effect or a “mysterious valley” that is often difficult to describe but impossible to feel.
AI image generators trained using content scraped from the web reproduce stereotypes. Generative AI works probabilistically, and without a diverse, deliberately chosen dataset influencing the model, the most likely generations are not interacting with the world as it is, but stereotypes perpetuated online.
None of these attributes reflect what consumers are looking for in a product’s appearance. Amidst the flood of artificial content, audiences are clinging to reality—authenticity has moved from brand fanaticism to a new code of honor. But even authenticity is fluid, changing in response to consumer sentiments and self-expression styles.
Creating content that really resonates alive and realbrands must resist consumer expectations about AI-generated content. The new beauty of anti-AI is on the rise, with brands aiming to classify their content as human-made at a glance. In analyzing visual trends in global advertising, my team at Getty Images has seen an increase in different styles and choices that reflect the strong human hand.
One is the tactile, hand-crafted look and feel, with visible imperfections and rich textures. As Vogue reports, a a “childlike” quality. it appears as a sign of authenticity and purpose, where in the past, these beauties were reserved for more play and product testing. In a world where AI accelerates our unprecedented access to knowledge, ignorance and wonder are less youthful qualities than human qualities, a refreshing break from the ever-present digital world. The new Zevia ads are a strong example of this movement trend: a repetitive robot character, who can only drink soda with artificial ingredients without malfunctioning, has a loose, hand-carved look.
In its honor Cindy Crawford’s 1992 Pepsi adZevia is involved in another trend used by brands to demonstrate authenticity: nostalgia. People miss the things that brought them joy when they were young, but from an aesthetic point of view, they also miss the pre-AI look. However, web-scraping AI generators are capable of recreating vintage beauty; this is where texture comes in to combat artificial slippage.
We’ve also seen that skeptical audiences want to see real evidence of effort and purpose. To meet this demand, brands like Apple depend on it content behind the scenes and visuals. Subtly, they put a renewed focus on video and photography to reinforce the irreplaceable value of human art.
Patrón did this recently in a a new campaign and Guillermo del Toro. Tapping Oscar-winning guest directors is not unheard of for major brands, but “The Perfect Pour” deliberately highlights the importance of artistry, combining the director’s signatures with the brand’s creative signatures to balance creativity and quality. Even OpenAI emphasized human creativity in the 2025 campaign, using 35mm film for an abstract, handmade feel—a strange choice for an LLM ad, yet it truly reflects our deeply personal relationship with technology.
Brands also resist the look of AI with songs that evoke randomness and automation in ways that tools trained on existing images cannot. They are looking to bottle the lightning of everyday phenomena and wonders in a visual way to differentiate themselves from the AI equivalent. Merrell’s latest “It Starts Outside” Campaignfor example, it relies on randomness in its visual composition, extending the campaign’s theme about the wonders of unpredictability.
By using these techniques in storytelling, brands are not only promoting eye-catching aesthetics—which may ultimately define this era in advertising—but building credibility by celebrating human creativity.
Finding balance
While many consumers reject the use of AI-generated visuals in marketing, organizations are already investing heavily in AI for creative workflows. Eighty-three percent of ad managers say they have A productive AI is used in the creative process, too 95 percent of salespeople they expect technology to have a significant impact on their work.
A world that prioritizes human intelligence need not avoid AI altogether. Technology can help creators overcome the “blank page” problem that can prevent them from starting or completing important projects. Even productive outcomes that do not align well with their vision can challenge them to think in the right way.
Disclosure and transparency are important, both for human and AI outcomes. “Man-made” is a value indicator. “AI-generated” is a watchdog and a show of interest. With consumers placing such a high value on the process, brands may need to disclose where AI is being used at any stage of creative development. This is already the norm among video game developers, who face pressure from players who don’t support AI—one developer even replace assets generated by AI which were only in the game as temporary substitutes. Other brands should expect similar scrutiny, especially as advertising trends toward full media productions such as branded entertainment.
It’s not that brands should embrace the obvious beauty of anti-AI—a lot is emerging, and most brands will remain active in AI, targeting boosters over detractors. At the end of the day, what matters most to consumers is that products are trustworthy and authentic to them, whether or not AI plays a role in visualizing their identity.
