The imperfect advantage: Perspectives on the cultural tension between authenticity and artifice

We've spent years trying to make advertising look real. GoPro footage shot from someone's actual helmet, Apple’s Shot on iPhone turning everyday, imperfect footage into a global advertising format. A moment that feels a little too awkward to have been scripted. 

We’ve learned the visual language of “real” so well that we can recognise it almost instantly. But now, reality has become something we can manufacture too. AI can create a person who never existed, put them somewhere they’ve never been and make them say something they never said. It can generate the perfect lighting, the perfect expression and, increasingly, the perfect version of imperfection. 

Looking authentic and being authentic are no longer quite the same thing.

That’s the strange paradox we find ourselves in; the more valuable authenticity becomes, the easier it becomes to reproduce the appearance of it. So what happens when “real” becomes just another creative treatment?

AI can create a person who never existed, put them somewhere they’ve never been and make them say something they never said.

The performance of authenticity

For years, advertising has borrowed credibility from people. Using actors to play characters in a story or celebrities to represent aspiration or quality. Even influencers are used to reach audiences and interests. Each brought something that brands couldn’t manufacture themselves: a sense of lived experience.

But somewhere along the way, we also learned how to reproduce the signals of that experience. The direct-to-camera delivery. The handheld shot. The slightly dimmed lighting. The “I just happened to be here” moment.

We know the codes. And when everyone knows the codes, they stop being evidence of authenticity and become another form of artifice. A perfectly imperfect photograph can now be generated, creators can be digitally replicated. A brand can manufacture the appearance of something being unmanufactured. The world’s our oyster. 

Looking authentic and being authentic are no longer quite the same thing.

When technology can do all of that instantly, perfection becomes cheap. Not because imperfection is inherently more authentic, but because it can be evidence of human authorship.

When AI can make the mistake too 

For a long time, technology has manipulated reality. Photoshop could make someone thinner. Retouching could remove a wrinkle. Editing could turn three takes into one seamless moment. 

However, generative AI has changed the starting point. It doesn't necessarily need a reality to manipulate. It can invent the person, place or moment from scratch. 

For a while, six fingers were enough to tell us an image wasn't real. Now AI is getting better at hands. Even the mistakes are being fixed.

So perhaps the question isn't simply whether something was made with AI. It is what makes something feel human when the technology can reproduce so many of the signs we used to rely on.

Above: Aerie’s recent 100% Aerie Real campaign with Pamela Anderson directly confronts AI-generated beauty, contrasting synthetic models with real, untouched people. 

Trust is the scarce resource

The advertising industry talks about attention as its most valuable commodity. But in a world of deepfakes, synthetic influencers and AI-generated content, trust may be becoming scarcer. 

The problem is that consumers are realising they can’t be certain that something wasn’t AI-generated and this is what changes the relationship between brands and audiences. 

If it allows us to make everything cleaner, smoother, faster and more perfect, perhaps the creative opportunity is knowing when not to.

Imperfection as vital evidence 

This is where imperfection gets interesting. 

Those little inconsistencies that production traditionally tried to remove with photoshop are now more valuable than ever because they can signal human authorship. Advertising has always tried to create perfection and eliminate all mistakes. Making the food we try to sell look better. Making the person appear more polished. But when technology can do all of that instantly, perfection becomes cheap. Not because imperfection is inherently more authentic, but because it can be evidence of human authorship.

We’re already seeing brands play with this tension. Aerie’s recent 100% Aerie Real campaign with Pamela Anderson directly confronts AI-generated beauty, contrasting synthetic models with real, untouched people. 

And BMW's Real, For Real campaign went in a different direction and used AI-generated absurdity to make the case for the verifiable reality of its cars. 

The thing these examples have in common is that they make reality itself part of the creative idea.