Samsung's shameless AI ads aren't going down well

News
By published

'This is the best iPhone ad.'

Samsung Galaxy S25 series product images
(Image credit: Samsung)

We've seen plenty of examples of dodgy AI advertising from big brands including McDonald's and Coca-Cola in recent months. But if there's one industry we wouldn't expect to see churning out egregiously obvious slop, it's tech.

So it's a little surprising to see Samsung slopping all over its social media feeds with a bunch of badly rendered ads designed, ironically, to highlight upcoming Galaxy S26 series's AI capabilities.

Brighten your after hours | Samsung - YouTube Brighten your after hours | Samsung - YouTube
Watch On

Take, for example, the above ad titled 'Brighten your after hours'. The ad is ostensibly advertising the ability to brighten dark videos. But the crappy AI distracts from the actual message. Why are the skateboarding men's suits so shiny? Why does the road suddenly transform from paved to cobbled?

The ad ends with the line, 'Can your phone do that?' Which is a bit rich – judging by the need for AI, presumably Samsung's can't either.

Needless to say, the comments aren't kind. "Samsung really?! AI slop to show your new Ultra camera night time performance?," one viewer complains, while another adds, "I was actually interested in moving from an iPhone until I saw this. This is garbage and I want nothing to do with it." Another pithily concludes, 'This is the best iPhone ad'.

None of this is a good look for Samsung. Why advertise camera features using footage that didn't come from the camera? Why hide the AI disclaimer in such tiny small-print at the bottom when the whole thing is so blatantly artificially generated?

Indeed, there seems to be a concerning trend here – if big brands like Samsung and Coca-Cola aren't afraid to make their AI ads look so unapologetically shite, what do the next few years of advertising look like? The future's not bright. The future's sloppy.

Daniel John
Daniel John
Design Editor

Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles. He has interviewed leaders and designers at brands including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe. Daniel's debut book of short stories and poems was published in 2018, and his comedy newsletter is a Substack Bestseller.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.