French Lingerie Brand Launches Swimsuit Campaign With AI-Generated Models
Beauty standards have certainly changed a lot over the past months. With artificial intelligence taking leaps across sectors, brands have been looking to cast non-human talents—and it doesn’t matter if they’ve had real-world experience or not.
As a lingerie brand, Undiz is no stranger to staging shoots that show skin. Its summer 2023 campaign is a bit different, though. Donning pieces from the French label are models that aren’t flesh and bones, but artificial humans generated with the help of luxury branding agency Cowboys.
Granted, AI art initiatives are a dome a dozen these days, but this advertising campaign is a first for France, DIY Photography reports. Under French law, companies must declare if images have been manipulated, which makes this case stand out from the others.
To adhere to local advertising regulations, the new artwork, which has sprung up all over Parisian bus stops and billboards, is plastered with the text: “Image generated by AI.”
A first for the French market, Undiz launches their AI generated Summer 2023 campaign. Already on bus stops around Paris they display the legally mandated manipulated image disclaimer. pic.twitter.com/pMwIGt50DT
— LOUIS (@LouisPisano) April 28, 2023
On Instagram, the same two visuals are posted without the “made by AI” disclaimer, though the company does credit the machine in the caption.
View this post on Instagram
As with the reactions for countless other experimentations with generative AI, the campaign has found itself submerged in a mixed bag of responses, with one person lamenting that the images are a “terrible repudiation of photographers and wet hair.”
Another presents an “unpopular opinion” that they “don’t understand the controversy” surrounding the use of AI generation in advertising.
“Sure, there’s no photographer being paid, but the person who creates the images will be,” they elaborate.
Justifying the creative, Undiz reasons that real underwater shoots are tricky, and the colors on the clothing and backdrop often turn out less vibrant than is desired.
The stunt is “a way to test out a new creative tool [beyond] photography, 3D, or motion design,” Undiz explains. “The rest of our campaign was made with love by humans!” the brand adds.
That’s not to say this synthetic photo shoot has been a breeze. Undiz details that one “major challenge” it encountered was the incorporation of its own swimsuits, since “AIs do not yet support the integration of existing clothing or the creation of visuals in bikinis.”
*runs away* pic.twitter.com/Chv56wgRBO
— LOUIS (@LouisPisano) April 28, 2023
Vous avez vu les nouvelles pub undiz avec des mannequins générés par des IA ? Je sais pas trop quoi en penser pic.twitter.com/aFBZJj3WWX
— mimo 🌠(@nonogmt) April 28, 2023
[via DIY Photography and Viuz, images via various sources]
