Aerie is saying no to AI, and its followers are loving it.
The intimates and loungewear brand pledged not to use AI in its ads in an Instagram post on October 9. The post has since garnered over 40,000 likes and more than 500 comments, making it the brand’s most popular post in the past year, Metricool, which tracks social media engagement, told Business Insider.
“Today we commit: No AI-generated bodies or people. Real people only,” Aerie said in the post. “No retouching. No AI. 100% Aerie real.”
The post has helped lift Aerie’s social media engagement. Engagement on Aerie’s Instagram posts — not including reels — grew by about 75% between October 6 and October 19, Metricool said.
Commenters praised Aerie for ditching AI and keeping it real.
Aerie built its brand around just that — being real, chief marketing officer Stacey McCormick told Business Insider.
In 2014, Aerie said it would stop retouching people and bodies in its campaigns and focus on “real” beauty. Saying no to AI is an extension of that promise, McCormick said, and it’s about building trust.
With AI making its way into the fashion industry, she said, it was the right time to speak up.
“We were excited to see the community come together and be as into it as we are,” McCormick said about the response to the post.
Aerie’s promise comes at a time when brands’ AI-generated marketing efforts aren’t being well-received, Rachel Karten, social media consultant and author of the “Link In Bio” newsletter, told Business Insider.
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“Brands are sort of dipping their toe into AI,” Karten said. “Right now, the comment section often erupts in ‘boo; you’re brand; pay creatives; we don’t wanna see AI.”
Brands like Aerie are taking note — and action.
“We’re always listening,” McCormick said. She said some customers have said they “don’t quite understand how AI is used in fashion yet.”
Aerie isn’t the only brand taking a stand against AI. In April, beauty brand Dove also vowed never to use AI imagery in place of real women. Dove wrote on its website that it will keep its content “free of digital and AI distortion, and unrealistic beauty standards of any kind.”
Since the conversations surrounding AI use are largely taking place on social media, Aerie’s strategy to post its vow on Instagram was smart, Karten said.
“It makes sense that they’d want their social audience to know first that they won’t be seeing AI on their feed,” Karten said.
Brands are starting to push back publicly on AI as the advertising industry, like many others, is being upended by AI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was recently quoted as saying, “95% of what marketers use agencies, strategists, and creative professionals for today will easily, nearly instantly, and at almost no cost be handled by AI.”
However, as Aerie has shown, taking the human-first route could work in favor of brands, too.
