Consumers Are Over AI in Ads: New Research Reveals Widespread Fatigue

Consumers around the world aren’t happy about AI use in advertising. According to new research from The Harris Poll, 4As, and Infillion, more than two-thirds of global consumers view AI as largely a “marketing ploy”—one that could nonetheless make them think less of the companies loudly touting it.

The new research, shared exclusively with Marketing Brew at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, found that 78% of consumers believe AI makes ads “feel less authentic”; the same amount said they find brands “cringey” when over-using AI.

That sentiment carries into AI-generated advertising: Around two-thirds (63%) said they would be “less likely to purchase from a brand that uses AI-generated ads”, while 73% said they would be “less likely to trust an ad” they suspected was made using AI.

The results reflect broad consumer fatigue about AI in general. More than half (54%) agreed that they hear so much about AI that “it’s starting to annoy [them],” while around two-thirds (65%) of consumers said they would “love if brands would never mention meaningless AI marketing again.”

Industry Adoption vs. Consumer Sentiment

The findings come as AI is increasingly adopted throughout the advertising process. More than half (56%) of industry professionals reported using AI for idea generation and concepting, according to The Harris Poll, and just about half said they also used the technology for visual asset creation. Fewer—about 4 in 10 industry professionals—said they use AI for processes like copywriting, audience targeting and personalization, and media planning and placement.

And references to AI are climbing in marketing materials. According to a recent report from Sensor Tower, there’s been a double-digit surge in advertising containing AI-related terms across categories, including in health and wellness, financial services, and media and entertainment; the phrase “AI-powered” is particularly popular in app descriptions.

Brands Navigating the Backlash

Some brands have loudly embraced AI in consumer-facing marketing materials, including Coca-Cola, whose AI-generated holiday ads have prompted controversy, and Svedka, which used AI to produce and animate the robots that appeared in its inaugural Super Bowl ad earlier this year.

Others seem to have identified the consumer fatigue and are taking a different approach. Apple is among several brands to emphasize handcrafted advertisements through behind-the-scenes footage; others, including Almond Breeze and Equinox, have used AI slop semi-ironically in their campaigns, poking fun at the technology to emphasize the realness present in their offerings.