'Cheap’ and ‘lazy': How AI-generated images signal lower quality — and made human-created designs the new luxury

Em NortonSun, August 16, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC

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Artificial intelligence is making its way into every industry you can imagine, and Americans have mixed opinions on it overall. Data from Pew Research Center shows that 50% of Americans are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life. Additionally, 53% said that they believe the increased use of AI will worsen people’s ability to think creatively.

People’s distaste in AI’s take on creativity is becoming more evident through the products they want to spend their money on. As companies increasingly use AI to outsource human creativity, whether for advertising or the products themselves, it could make human-made goods the new luxury.

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Questioning a brand’s authenticity and product quality

In late 2025, Italian fashion house Valentino released a fully AI-generated campaign to advertise a handbag. The ads did not go over well, and many people commented on Instagram saying it was (among other things) “cheap” and “lazy,” BBC reported.

Scholarship published by the Journal of Advertising Research found that consumers respond more negatively when luxury brands feature and disclose AI-generated imagery in their ads. According to the study, it makes consumers perceive the work as requiring less effort and leads them to discount the brand’s value and authenticity.

Coca Cola also released a series of fully AI-generated holiday ads in late 2024, and it did not go over well with consumers. The ad was meant to be an homage to another ad of theirs from 1995, but it looked uncanny, Forbes reported.

Alex Hirsch, the creator of the animated TV series Gravity Falls, commented on the ad on X, saying “FUN FACT: @CocaCola is “red” because it’s made from the blood of out-of-work artists! #HolidayFactz”

DoubleVerify’s 2026 Media Quality in the Age of AI study found that consumers respond strongly to the quality of AI-generated content, with 43% of consumers in North America saying a brand’s use of low-quality or “uncanny” AI-created ads would negatively affect their opinion of the brand.

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Human-made goods could be the new luxury

In an article for Fast Company, Ben Sherwood writes that while “AI signals speed, scale, and optimization [...] human creativity signals something else entirely: taste, discernment, cultural fluency, and the kind of originality that comes only from lived experience.”

With both staking their place in the consumer world, human-made goods might have the chance to shine brighter. AI’s ability to produce speedily sets it apart from 100% human-created goods, but as it is increasingly used to create, it makes those human-made goods and advertisements all the more special and noticeable.

In October 2025, clothing brand Aerie shared an ad on their Instagram, writing, “Today we commit: No AI-generated bodies or people. Real people only [...] No retouching. No AI.” Business Insider reported that it was the brand’s most-liked Instagram post in a year. This summer, Polaroid launched an ad campaign dedicated to promoting a more analog lifestyle. One of their billboards was quite explicitly anti-AI — the text read “Go jump in some water before the data centres drink it all up” next to a Polaroid photo of two people jumping in a lake.

AI might be here to stay, but as consumer fatigue rises, people are noticing things made by people.

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

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Source: “AOL Money”