There’s a shift in the kinds of people and environments appearing in video ads that’s distinctly uncanny as AI videos become far easier and cheaper to make than real commercials.
You might not pay too much attention to the videos popping up next to Reddit comments or the commercials playing on a streaming service that you don’t watch often enough to justify buying the ad-free subscription. Still, the fake smiles and unrealistically beautiful homes are sometimes synthetic in a whole new way.
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Trust is the first casualty here. And in advertising, trust is everything. Saying an AI character’s endorsement is based on real customer comments doesn’t make them any more real. You can’t build brand loyalty if people don’t feel like they share things in common with the spokespeople, especially when it’s as basic as actually existing.
The AI ads on streaming platforms do have an AI disclaimer in the corner of the screen, but that won’t always make people feel better. Many feel like the companies are trying to trick them, and are reporting their dislike on Reddit and other social media platforms.
Uncanny ads
That hasn’t stopped advocates of AI ads from trumpeting their benefits. These avatars, they argue, are always on, perfectly consistent, and free from human bias. They won’t go rogue, they won’t age out of their appeal, and they’ll never post something regrettable on social media between shoots. They promise brand safety in the form of synthetic predictability.
But that predictability is a double-edged sword. Human beings don’t bond with perfection. We connect through imperfection. In the end, replacing messy human performances with sanitized simulations might make ad executives feel safer, but it doesn’t make their ads more effective.
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If brands keep chasing efficiency at the expense of authenticity, they may find themselves in a position that no marketing dashboard can fix. Not just distrusted, but ignored. Because when you remove every human element from your message, what’s left is just noise wearing a face.
That doesn’t mean there’s no place for AI in advertising. Used thoughtfully, it can do remarkable things. It can personalize content, test ideas, and even edit scripts. But it should support human storytelling, not replace it. The uncanny valley isn’t just a design flaw; it’s the edge of something we instinctively know isn’t quite right. People don’t buy what’s perfect. They buy what feels like a good fit for their lives. And no matter how sharp the jawline or smooth the delivery, there’s nothing more suspicious than a toothy smile that never reaches the eyes.
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