New regulations for new problems... Today I'm looking at how France is trying to pass legislation to require influencers to disclose when they are using filters on their social media feeds - or face up to 2 years in prison (!) for deceiving their audiences about their true levels of perfection.
This made me recall the current internet debate around Levi's use of "diverse" (but AI generated) models (so no models of colour were paid in the making of this campaign but target consumers of colour are supposed to be impressed nonetheless) - and question what future labels of authenticity future advertisers are going to have to include in their communications.
What are you thoughts on disclosing "augmentation" of the truth in ads? (We all know food adverts use glue and paint to make food look as delicious as can be, and that models, even if not artificially generated avatars, are photo-shopped are made up and lit up in ways we could never aspire to emulating - how much deception is ok?)
And what about AI being used to simulate diversity where there is none? Should "founders" and boards be allowed to showcase pictures of diverse looking - but actually non existent - AI generated collages and partners in their brochureware?
Is the threat of jail time the only way to get us to be honest with each other?
And does deception still sell?
Read more:
Filters off: https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/31/france-moves-forward-with-influencer-bill-cracking-down-on-risky-products-and-more/
No POC were paid in the making of this diverse ad : https://www.insider.com/levis-ai-generated-company-models-diversity-backlash-2023-3
Behind the Bold Glamour