A wave of consumer pushback against AI generated advertising has put several US brands on the defensive, according to reporting by Inc. Audiences have increasingly labeled machine made ads as low quality, using the term AI slop to describe campaigns that look cheap or incoherent, and some brands have pulled or reworked spots after criticism spread online.
Surveys cited in the coverage point to a sharp drop in enthusiasm. Only about 19 percent of users in 2026 said they feel excited about AI, down from roughly 50 percent two years earlier, and a majority reported fatigue with the volume of AI driven content. Nearly 60 percent of consumers said they doubt the authenticity of online content, and about half reduce their engagement when they suspect content is AI generated.
Some companies have turned the sentiment into positioning. Brands including Aerie, Equinox, and Almond Breeze ran campaigns that called out AI slop and tech gimmicks by name, betting that a human made message would stand out. The reporting frames a marketing environment where AI can cut production time and cost yet carries reputational risk if audiences perceive the output as inauthentic. For brands, the episodes illustrate a shift in which the use of AI in creative work has itself become a subject of public scrutiny, shaping how companies disclose and deploy the technology in campaigns.
Source: Inc. - https://www.inc.com/annabel-burba/the-ai-ad-backlash-is-here-and-big-brands-are-leaning-in/91285342