{"id":365878,"date":"2026-03-26T08:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T08:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/365878\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T08:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T08:31:10","slug":"aerie-takes-a-stand-against-ai-marketing-with-pamela-anderson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/365878\/","title":{"rendered":"Aerie Takes a Stand Against AI Marketing With Pamela Anderson"},"content":{"rendered":"

What does \u201creal\u201d mean in the AI era? For Aerie, American Eagle\u2019s lounge and lingerie brand, realness is entirely human \u2014 untouched or altered by AI. As consumers and brands wrestle with how to approach the rapidly advancing tech, the brand is taking a stance against it. In October last year, Aerie expanded its \u201c100% Aerie Real\u201d anti-retouching pledge to never use AI-generated bodies or people in their marketing. And today, the brand is taking it one step further with the release of a bold new anti-AI film campaign, starring untouched beauty advocate Pamela Anderson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a clever way to draw attention to [AI images] because it\u2019s very worrisome,\u201d Anderson tells Vogue. \u201cTo me, as a woman, as a consumer, as a mother, I always think, what is happening? What is the difference between AI and real? How are we supposed to know? It was already disheartening at times to look at fashion magazines and see celebrities and models with retouching, but this is another level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ever since appearing at Paris Fashion Week makeup-free in 2023, Anderson has become a leading voice for natural beauty and ageing authentically. In the film, which will live across Aerie\u2019s social channels, as well as placements on YouTube, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney, and HBO, her voice acts as the prompting force issuing commands into a supposedly AI-generated world, unable to achieve the authentic human \u201creal-feeling\u201d result she wants from a scene with lifeless models. The scene then dissolves into a \u201creal\u201d Aerie set, where the models come alive, and Anderson appears before the camera to say: \u201cYou can\u2019t prompt this.\u201d<\/p>\n

A large part of luxury marketing is amping up its messaging around craft, process, and humanity, with brands like Loewe, Bottega Veneta, Jacquemus, and Miu Miu all centering their recent campaigns around these values and showcasing the handmaking processes behind their products. Another tranche have leaned into AI imagery \u2014\u00a0most recently Prada, via its Spring\/Summer 2026 campaign<\/a> with artist Jordan Wolfson, as well as Gucci<\/a> and Valentino<\/a> \u2014 but faced backlash from creatives and consumers online. Aerie, however, is one of the first fashion brands to adopt an explicit anti-AI stance as the central message in its marketing. It\u2019s a bold tactic that seems to be resonating with consumers. The brand dropped its first \u201creal people\u201d anti-AI Instagram campaign in October last year, which quickly went viral.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we soft-launched the anti-AI message in October, we\u2019ve seen double-digit growth in brand awareness,\u201d says Stacey McCormick, Aerie\u2019s chief marketing officer. The Aerie brand reported a 23% increase in sales in the fourth quarter of 2025. \u201cWe\u2019ve also seen a very strong shift in our awareness and consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n

I sit down with Pamela Anderson and Stacey McCormick to find out more about the new film, and the branding strategy behind Aerie\u2019s anti-AI marketing pledge.<\/p>\n

\"Pamela<\/p>\n

Pamela Anderson on set for Aerie\u2019s new anti-AI campaign.Photo: Adrian Martin<\/p>\n