The AI Ad Era Is Here: Congratulations, Your Brand Just Became Soulless

Here’s the funniest part about “AI in advertising” in 2026: a lot of brands are acting like they discovered fire… but they’re really just discovering copy/paste with electricity.

Because yes—AI can crank out ads at machine speed. And yes—your CFO probably loves that sentence. But your audience? Your audience can smell “AI-made” from three swipes away. Not because they’re tech experts. Because it feels like something’s missing.

You know that uncanny vibe when someone says “I hear you” but their eyes are dead? That’s what most AI-first ads feel like right now.

And if you think I’m being dramatic, look at the Big Game energy this year. Vodka brand Svedka ran what it touted as a primarily AI-generated Super Bowl spot—robots dancing at a party, full “look what we can do now” mode. People talked about it, sure. But a lot of that conversation wasn’t “I want that vodka.” It was more like: “So… creatives are just getting replaced now?”

That’s the 2026 reality: AI gets attention fast, but it can torch trust even faster.

The new flex isn’t “we used AI.” It’s “you couldn’t tell.”

Brands are leaning into generative AI like it’s a personality trait. Meanwhile, the audience is developing a sixth sense for “AI slop”—that mass-produced, too-smooth, too-random, emotionally weightless content that feels like a dream you forgot five seconds after waking up.

And here’s the part marketers don’t want to admit: the backlash isn’t about the tool. It’s about the intention.

People aren’t mad that you used AI. They’re mad because it looks like you used AI to avoid caring.

That’s why Coca-Cola got hit with the “soulless” label during the AI holiday ad backlash conversation—whether the spot performed or not, the emotional reaction was still loud: “this feels like cost-cutting disguised as creativity.”

So no, the internet isn’t anti-AI. The internet is anti-being-treated-like-a-dataset.

Brands succeeding right now are doing the opposite of “AI-first”

Want to know what’s still undefeated? Humans.

Bosch put Guy Fieri in a Super Bowl spot and played it for humor and relatability—leaning into personality, timing, and cultural familiarity. That’s not a coincidence. When the world starts feeling synthetic, anything genuinely human becomes a competitive advantage.

Same reason we’re watching brands succeed with messy, real content that feels like it came from a person with a pulse—not a prompt with a deadline.

And the smartest brands using AI aren’t pretending it’s magic. They’re using it like a power tool, not a replacement brain: iterate faster, test variations, speed up post, build more versions of a good idea.

The keyword there is idea. If your idea is mid, AI will help you scale mid into a full-blown brand problem.

The funniest trend in 2026: brands using AI to make fun of AI

This is where it gets deliciously petty—and honestly, kind of brilliant.

Brands like Dollar Shave Club, Almond Breeze, and Equinox have leaned into AI-generated visuals while also clowning the weirdness of AI outputs. Translation: “Yes, we know AI looks ridiculous sometimes… and we’re not going to pretend otherwise.”

That self-awareness is doing heavy lifting. Because the audience is tired of being gaslit by glossy marketing. If you can acknowledge the weirdness, you earn a little trust back.

But here’s the warning label: satire only works if you’re still saying something real. If you use “haha AI is crazy” as a mask for lazy creative, people will still clock it.

The uncomfortable truth: AI is making “trust” more expensive

In 2026, content volume is not a flex. It’s noise.

AI will flood the market with perfectly fine ads. The average quality will rise. And that means the only way to stand out won’t be “better production.” It’ll be better perspective.

Your audience is going to reward:

• brands that sound like they actually believe something

• brands that can tell the truth plainly

• brands that can make people feel seen, not sold to

• brands that can build identity, not just impressions

Because attention is still the game—but belief is the prize.

If you’re a brand using AI, read this twice

If your plan is “use AI to make more ads,” congrats—you’re about to become wallpaper faster than ever.

If your plan is “use AI to make better thinking easier to execute,” now we’re talking.

AI doesn’t replace taste. AI doesn’t replace judgment. AI doesn’t replace a point of view. And it definitely doesn’t replace the one thing every great ad has always needed:

A human truth.

So yeah, use the tool. Move faster. Test more.

Just don’t act shocked when the market rejects anything that feels like you stopped caring.

Because your audience isn’t scared of AI.

They’re scared your brand is using it as an excuse to be soulless.