The Cat in the Hat receives scathing AI allegations for “garbage” ad campaign

A new campaign trail for the upcoming Cat in the Hat movie is (digitally) blazing across the world. From the peak of the Eiffel Tower to the treacherous waters of Niagara Falls, Cat's iconic hat was 'pictured' at different world monuments, but fans weren't easily enchanted by the stunt, throwing around some scathing AI allegations.

While it's refreshing to see something different from regular movie posters or teaser trailers, the new Cat in the Hat campaign was clearly not enough to impress fans. If the AI allegations are correct, it's certainly not going to go down as one of the best adverts of all time.

In a post shared to X, Warner Bros released a cheeky tweet asking, "What's red and white, and apparently, all over?". Pretty innocent stuff, albeit not the most original. At first glance, I assumed the new campaign was hopping on the AR trend plaguing world monuments (see North Face's Big Ben takeover, for example), but the series of static images soon received a flood of heated AI accusations.

"I could photoshop something that looked better than this AI garbage in a minute," one user satchily commented. "Stop using AI," another demanded, while one X user called the campaign "a blight on national landmarks."

The Cat in the Hat | Official Trailer - YouTube

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Whether or not the AI allegations are true, it's clear there's a general distrust from audiences when it comes to film companies abusing AI. With award-winning films like The Brutalist openly using the technology, it's understandable why suspicions are high. If there's one thing we can learn from the response to this campaign, it's that the people yearn for thoughtful, human-made creativity.