Roni's Rant #8 - AI Adverts

Don’t get me wrong — I love playing around with AI as much as the next person. I enjoy crafting prompts, watching the magic unfold, and seeing ideas come to life through animation and imagery. It’s fun, creative, and honestly a little addictive.

However… I don’t believe AI should be used in advertisements for clothing, skin, hair, or other wearable products. At that point, it stops being creative play and starts becoming false advertising.

And to the designers who defend it — please spare me the argument that creators have been editing their adverts for years. There is a huge difference between using Photoshop to fix a pose glitch and using AI enhancement to make a product appear more realistic or more polished than it actually is. Editing out a stray elbow from a bad pose doesn’t change the item being sold. Using AI to elevate the look of a product beyond what it truly is? That absolutely does.

Let’s call it what it is: misleading.

Yes, we have demos — and I demo everything. But I would rather be demoing to decide which color or pattern suits me best, or how something fits my shape, not to investigate how closely the real product matches the AI-enhanced advertisement. Shopping shouldn’t feel like detective work.

When I look at an ad, I want to trust that what I’m seeing is an honest representation of what I’m buying. Creativity in marketing is wonderful — deception is not.

On the left we have the AI-enhanced advert, and on the right we have the demos in the exact same colors as shown. To be fair, this example is a modest enhancement and definitely not the worst I’ve seen — but it’s still false advertising.

My shape isn’t far off from most ad models, and while the actual version of this dress does make my chest appear a bit larger, that alone isn’t the issue; that can often come down to body shape. What really stands out is the difference in quality and construction. In the advert, the shoulders are slimmer and more streamlined, the material appears shinier and more defined, and the skirt is noticeably longer. In reality, the fabric lacks that same finish, and the hems just don’t match the polished look being sold.

At this point, if I see an AI-enhanced ad, I usually keep walking. That said, there are a few reasons I might still stop and take a closer look:

1. The enhancement appears minimal.

2. It’s a designer I’m unfamiliar with and want to check out.
   Usually a combination of 1 and 2 will get me to pause for confirmation.

3. It’s a designer I already know and trust to create amazing clothing, despite their choice to use AI-enhanced adverts.

Sometimes I’m not sure who disappoints me more — the designers using AI to elevate subpar work, or the talented designers producing gorgeous pieces who still rely on it because they lack confidence in how their actual designs will be received.

I do think, though, that AI-generated ads will eventually become more of a crutch for weaker designers as more creators grow comfortable working with PBR and advanced texturing. Not going to lie, I’m becoming a bit of a PBR snob myself. I’ve seen how breathtaking it can be when used well… though some designers are still learning how not to turn everything blue from sky reflections. But that’s a rant for another day!

Alright, I’ve probably stood on this soapbox long enough. Before I go, let me leave you with one more comparison. A huge thank you to my amazing model, who was such a great sport helping me test this out 😆

All we could do was laugh… it was so bad.

So I’ll leave you with a few final tidbits of advice:

1. If you’re using AI because your product isn’t good — do better.

2. If you’re a talented designer using it anyway — have faith in your work. Your customers will too.

3. And a heartfelt thank you to the designers who have started stamping their ads with “Not AI Enhanced.” We see you, and we appreciate you.