Rendered Realities: Why the Rise of AI-Generated Images is Both a Gift and a Gut Check for Marketers
- Marwa Kaabour
- May 25
- 3 min read
Once, we edited photos to enhance beauty. Now, we generate entire realities.
From hyper-realistic avatars to fully AI-produced video campaigns, we’ve entered a marketing era where the line between real and rendered is rapidly dissolving.
And while the tools are extraordinary—offering us unprecedented creative freedom—they also raise deep questions about authenticity, trust, and the future of visual storytelling.
🎥 The Magic (and the Marketing Muscle) of AI Imagery
Let’s start with the innovation.
AI tools like Runway ML, Synthesia, Pika, and HeyGen are revolutionizing how we produce content—replacing green screens, heavy equipment, and week-long shoots with one-click video magic. In a few minutes, marketers can generate:
Flawless spokesperson videos in multiple languages
Product demos without prototypes
Customer testimonials without camera crews
Virtual influencers that don’t need sleep, salaries, or NDAs.
Luxury brands are already leaning in. Balmain created its own AI-generated models. L'Oréal is experimenting with AI-enhanced beauty advisors. And Coca-Cola’s “Create Real Magic” campaign invited users to generate branded artwork using OpenAI and DALL·E tech.
What happens when every brand becomes airbrushed to perfection?When we all look polished, poised, and perpetually camera-ready?Where does that leave trust—the bedrock of all brand relationships?
⚖️ Between Speed and Soul: The Ethical Dilemma
AI-generated content presents us with a fundamental tension:
Do we optimize for perfection—or for connection?
Here’s where we need to pause and ask the right questions:
Should we disclose when our brand ambassadors are synthetic?
Are we reinforcing unrealistic beauty standards, again—this time, with code?
Are deepfake risks being adequately managed in our campaigns?
Will consumers start questioning everything they see?
We’ve always used storytelling tools—Photoshop, voiceovers, product renders. But this is different. This is reality reimagined at scale, and it’s happening at the speed of curiosity.
💡 How Leading Brands Are Navigating the New Reality
Smart marketers are not avoiding AI—they’re wielding it with awareness:
Dove’s Real Beauty campaigns doubled down on authenticity, showing untouched imagery while the rest of the industry leaned into perfection. Their approach built loyalty, not just likes.
Zalando recently launched an AI-powered campaign while clearly labelling AI-generated faces. Transparency was the value-add.
Maybelline ran an AI-boosted mascara ad on the London Underground, sparking buzz—and debate—about reality in advertising.
These examples teach us that how we use the tool matters more than the tool itself.
🧭 Here is a Framework for Ethical AI Imagery in Marketing
If you're building out your AI content strategy, consider this compass:
Transparency: If it's AI-generated, say so.
Authenticity: Use AI to enhance your story, not replace its emotional core.
Representation: Avoid reinforcing unrealistic norms—beauty, behavior, or otherwise.
Trust-building: Audit how your visuals impact perception and credibility.
Balance: Pair AI-generated assets with real human content—behind-the-scenes, live sessions, community engagement.
✨ AI is the Spark—But We Are the Soul
As marketers, we’ve always embraced change. But this is more than change—it’s a creative and ethical revolution.
We now hold in our hands tools that can make anything believable. But belief—true, enduring belief—can’t be manufactured. It’s earned.
AI can paint the picture.But it’s up to us to preserve the integrity behind it.
Let’s use these tools not to hide from reality, but to highlight humanity.To connect, not just impress.To tell stories that are not just beautiful—but believable.
Because in a world of rendered realities, the most powerful marketing act might just be staying real.
Comments