"Why would Vogue allow this?”: Skechers faces AI allegations over controversial ad

A Skechers ad has sparked outrage after fashion fans speculated it may be AI-generated. With all the usual suspects of lazy generative AI artwork, from frighteningly warped faces to illegible text, the ad only gets worse the more you look at it.

By now we're no strangers to AI advertising, but it remains a highly controversial topic among consumers thanks to copyright concerns and the often janky, lacklustre artwork that AI typically produces. If we can learn anything from Skechers' controversial ad, if you're going to use AI then at least try not to make it so obvious.

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The ad was discovered by TikTok user @polishlaurapalmer, who found the bizarre artwork in the December issue of Vogue. "For a second I was like, that's kinda cool" she says, before adding "I look at the drawing for two more seconds and I’m like oh that’s AI." Among the offending AI-esque details were numerous warped faces, ripped, unfinished and reality-defying details in the women's clothing and nonsensical background text.

"As someone in advertising, it's getting bad. literally have fights explaining how bad AI is and everyone just wants the cheapest/quickest option with no regard for quality," one TikTok commenter responded. "Why would Vogue allow this?" another questioned. Others seemed confused as to how the design errors made the cut, with one commenter writing "What I do not understand with all the AI stuff is why people don’t try to edit/photoshop over it," while another chimed in "The fact that they sent it to print with such noticeable AI errors is CRAZY."

It's not the first time we've seen brands called out for allegedly using AI – Transport for Ireland recently received a frightful response from fans for using AI art in a recent campaign. Some brands aren't even trying to hide it, like these purposefully provocative 'anti-human' pro-AI billboards that recently sparked public outrage. The continuous backlash towards AI in advertising proves one thing – most people would rather see human creativity over artificial AI slop.