AI images in PR and advertising are not always a good option

Artificial intelligence (AI) is certainly a powerful tool for many tasks, especially for quick and affordable image generation for advertising. However, in PR, where the emotional connection with customers plays a key role, especially in B2C, you have to act with care. Every element of communication, from the choice of words to the visual image, is perceived as part of the overall message.

As long as we can recognise images made by AI, we read them as an imitation of reality rather than reality itself. This creates a feeling of something "made up" and “fantasy-like”.

Such advertising can work perfectly for fantasy worlds, games, stories that happen not in real life but in the characters’ dreams. Where everything is fantasy. Or the world of art and “high fashion”, where nothing is connected with reality and every story begins with “oh, if only…”

But what happens when AI is used to sell practical products?

For a while I saw a giant billboard in the street advertising a new car model. A global brand. The poster showed a happy elderly couple drawn by AI. Unlike the taste of food and drinks, the scent of perfume, inner fantasies … a car is a real and expensive thing that should inspire trust, reliability and durability. The idea of an elderly couple is not bad in itself, but the poster makes it obvious – this is not real joy, not real happiness, such people do not exist. If real people had been used for the car ad – better still, a real couple – the communication would have been much more effective.

My bachelor’s thesis was about the difference in trust in advertising towards photographs, text and illustrations. In advertising practical things for real use, a poor photograph is better than a good illustration.

Ideally, one could develop the story of the couple and extend the campaign so that people would talk about the couple from the poster. Who they are and how they managed it…

And of course, we must not forget the worst conclusion a potential customer can draw – they have no money for a proper shoot. This conclusion is right on the surface when you see “collaged” video ads.

Perhaps in the near future using a “live” resource will be a sign of a company’s solidity.