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Should Beauty Brands Say ‘No’ To Using AI-Generated Models?
Dove has become the first beauty brand to commit to never using AI-generated imagery to represent “real people” in its advertising. Rather, the Unilever-owned skincare brand will continue to use real photos of women, while promoting more diverse AI-generated images based on prompts about beautiful women.
The pledge to forego AI comes as Dove celebrates the 20th anniversary of its often-lauded Real Beauty campaign. At the time, Dove began featuring unedited, underrepresented bodies and people in advertising and set a goal to “dismantle toxic beauty standards,” helping spark the body positivity movement.
Marking the anniversary, Dove commissioned a survey in late 2023 of over 33,000 individuals in 20 countries as part of its 2024 “Real State of Beauty” study that found that while women felt better represented in advertising, beauty stereotypes continue to harm women’s self-esteem due in part to social media.
Citing predictions by AI experts that up to 90% of online content will be AI-generated by 2025, Dove particularly called out AI as a new “threat” to women’s well-being.
“We’ll no longer be wondering whether an influencer has doctored their images, we’ll be asking ourselves whether the influencer is a real person at all,” said Alessandro Manfredi, Dove’s global chief marketing officer, in the study. “We will be confronted with a reality where people will be comparing their appearance to images and videos of artificial bodies.”
Dove’s survey already showed how AI is impacting how women feel about themselves, including 39% of women polled globally indicating they “feel pressure to alter their appearance because of what they see online, even when they know it’s fake or AI-generated.”
On the positive side, Dove said AI has the “potential to foster creativity and access to beauty,” citing the finding in the survey that 24% of women and 41% of girls in the U.S. agreed that being able to create different versions of yourself using AI is empowering. However, the brand said there’s “still an urgent need for greater representation and transparency in content created by AI.”
Beyond its pledge to never use AI in its advertising to portray real people, Dove introduced new “Real Beauty Prompt Guidelines” that provide instructions for creating images using generative AI programs that are representative of “real beauty.” A new ad campaign, “The Code,” showed how AI creates images based on descriptions such as “the most beautiful woman in the world” versus the more realistic images created by Dove’s prompt tool.
Showing the potential of artificial intelligence in ad imagery, Levi’s last year began testing customized AI-generated models with the aim of multiplying the number and diversity of models that customers can see online. At the time, Levi’s said shoppers on Levi.com typically only see one model for each product and indicated the move supported its diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.
Lalaland.ai, Levi’s partner in the project, said using AI-generated models can also create content 90% faster than photoshoots and eliminate the need for physical clothing samples for a sustainability benefit.
Levi’s received backlash to the test, with many critics wondering why Levi’s wouldn’t simply hire real diverse models over generating fake ones. Several articles have been published over the last year discussing artificial intelligence’s threat to the modeling industry.
Discussion Questions
Do you see a strong consumer backlash developing over the use of AI-generated fashion models for online imagery and in advertising campaigns?
Do you see more upsides or downsides to using AI-generated models?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Cathy Hotka
Principal, Cathy Hotka & Associates
John Hennessy
Retail and Brand Technology Tailor
My personal view is that the “next pandemic” has already arrived: AI-phobia. It seems more than a little amusing that an industry whose entire purpose is to make someone look better, or at least different, than they really do needs to rush to embrace “real people”. However, the question wasn’t about my opinion(s) it was about the public at large: no, I don’t see a strong backlash, since I don’t think it’s something people think about, let alone worry about. That having been said, for a company like Dove, who has hitched their wagon to the “natural” concept, making a strong statement makes a certain amount of sense. How many other will follow, we’ll just have to wait and see.
An absolute no is using AI to produce images which do not accurately represent the product being sold. Using AI models which accurately show the product is more debatable – but if a brand wants to sell itself as genuine and authentic then it’s not a good idea. Using AI to automatically change things like shades of lipstick on real models isn’t so much of an issue.
I very much agree with Dove that having real people model is the best way to ensure diversity, representation, and healthy beauty standards. I’m glad they’ve taken a stand on this, and I hope others follow their lead.
Using AI to sell beauty products is ridiculous. How are consumers supposed to know if a product works and what it looks like if it isn’t shown on real people?
The overuse of retouched images in fashion is already bad, let’s give women and girls even more reasons to feel bad about themselves. Good for Dove for keeping it real.
Georgeanne, for me it is hard sometimes to tell real from AI. AI is getting better and sometimes they can really copy or make a human pretty well (it’s creepy). And yes, the before and afters can get a little overdone, you have to chuckle sometimes – customers know better..
I’m with you! I just think that there are some areas where AI doesn’t belong. Perfect skin created by AI is unattainable.
Photoshopping and it’s variants are bad enough. And now we have AI. “Look what my product can do for you! Here, I’ll show you something 100% fake to help you understand how you will look in real life.” I’d like to say that it’s hilarious, but it’s not.
Isn’t AI for images just a bigger, smarter airbrush? (working on a composite of all the real images ingested by the training model). I don’t know how you stop this advance.
This isn’t about use of AI but about truth in advertising. If you want to use AI in advertising, a prominent disclaimer should be required that says this is not what the product looks like in actual use.
This is a challenging dilemma for retail brands. I applaud Dove’s pledge” to never using AI-generated imagery to represent “real people” in its advertising.” It is interesting that they created a video to depict the difference between AI-generated images and real people. Here is an interesting question, what is the the ethical difference between using digital editing tools to airbrush photos of models and using AI-generated images. They are both not “real” images of people. Based on the cost savings of using AI-generated images compared to photo shoots of real people, I am afraid that we will see many retail brands opting for the more cost-effective option. Generative AI will be a tragic blow to the modeling industry as well as creative writers and graphic designers.
My wife is sitting next to me. When I showed her this topic, her response was, “What is the difference between AI and Photoshop? In neither case is the photo real.”
The irony of using AI enhancements of a human model to show how products can better enhance a human consumer’s appearance is rich. Advertising has rarely been about reality. I’m not sure what the difference is between an AI-enhanced model’s face and the face of a model selected for their natural beauty and then has been worked on by a makeup artist for hours. Both exhibit enhanced results that the consumers may not be able to replicate at home.
More than most retail sectors the beauty industry relies on consumer trust and loyalty. They are only beginning to undo the damage done by decades of photoshopping and eating disorders. The damage AI models will do to this industry runs the full gamut from impacting the mental health of vulnerable youth to undermining shopper loyalty as customers abandon products and brands that fail to deliver the unreal expectations that AI creates.
Dove’s “real people” campaign has generated huge good will from customers, who are being told that they are good enough. Cynically, i’ll guess that other beauty brands will continue to use any tool to try to sell perfection, not reality.
How about a disclaimer? “This photo is AI developed. There is nothing you can do with our products to make you look like this.”
This a good idea..if only but it were, it would be tiny print you can’t read in the bottom right of the screen…
Marketers should use whatever tools available, including AI and Photoshop, to market their products. Advertising is fantasy. Customers will catch up with those who abuse the privilege.
Chris, really? Photoshop has been used in advertising since… well… since Photoshop was invented. Gee, it was probably invented in the late ’80s for precisely this purpose. The message may be fantasy, but the reception of the message is taken to heart.
This move is right on brand for Dove, which resonates with beauty shoppers by keeping it real. Yet consumers are so accustomed to the broader beauty industry’s filtered flawlessness that they may view AI-generated content as an inevitable marketing evolution.
Using AI-generated models can save brands time, money and effort on marketing and diversity at scale. Yet this trend will eliminate production jobs and may increase the risk of body dysmorphia among impressionable consumers who compare themselves to impossible perfection.
I am OK with the use of AI models at Levis. The AI models are just as fake as the real models that are chosen for their unique body type and further photoshopped. But, for beauty products, it goes a step too far. It is totally misleading. If the product can’t do what it is supposed to do with a real photograph, then the company is promoting false advertising.
I think this is so wrong. But. I imagine the ROI is compelling, not to mention the speed that a AI generated ad could be generated in compared to an “In Real Life” model, and you have something that is absolutely GOING to keep growing.
Sad but true.
Consumer attitudes towards AI-generated fashion models vary. While some accept them due to social media influence, others reject them, preferring real models for authenticity. Whether a strong backlash develops depends on transparency, diversity, and ethical considerations in AI use. The use of AI-generated models presents both upsides and downsides. On the positive side, AI can increase diversity, efficiency, and sustainability in fashion imagery. However, concerns include authenticity, ethical implications, and potential negative impacts on the modeling industry. AI in modeling cuts costs and speeds up campaigns but disrupts traditional models and risks brand reputation. It offers personalized content but demands skill training, raising operational costs.
We already live in a world of body shaming and presenting a faux Instagrammable aesthetic, and here comes the accelerated “deep fake” of Ai. People essentially identify and connect with real people. The likes of Unilever has fought for authentic representation, especially for women of color. To usher in Ai models is to turn back the clock on such necessary progress.
I echo everyone’s comments. I loved the news of Dove’s decision. It’s brand right and this will be the case for others too. This already exists with brands using models of different body types. As a mother of a teenagers, I’ve found it very disappointing that as a society we’re trying to foster self-acceptance and the diversity of others physical appearance, yet marketing is more fake than ever. Maybe visibility into the role of AI will expose how rampant this is already and there will be a rise in demand for more real advertising.
In the short term maybe. But as AI improves and younger generations can’t remember a world without it, it will become mainstream like all new tech. In the long term, the sustainability benefits (carbon impact of travel, clothes, etc.) and diversity benefits (the ability to represent even more diverse models for every item – skin color, hair color, body type, disabilities, etc.), or even just an AI generated version of yourself, will far outweigh the outrage. But like all things, it will take time.