AI in Marketing. Why 80% of Consumers May Switch Brands

I’d previously written an article cautioning business owners using AI generated or template marketing material. I got a lot of DMs asking why. So, let’s jump in and take a look.

A Deeper Look into the “Whys”

At first, AI seemed great. It was new and it showed us a glimpse of what was possible. It could find information for us without having to scour the Internet. That’s life-changing. It caught on so quickly, ChatGPT hit 100 million users within two months of launch, but the companies didn’t have the technical resources to support the influx of users.

Then the problems began. We saw AI performance go from great to erratic. The information could be correct or it could have a hallucination and get facts deeply twisted. It had become much less reliable.

Initially, AI models were trained from human created material on the web. Today, roughly half of what you see on the Internet has some AI generated material. That introduces a problem. It’s searching for information that’s roughly half artificial intelligence. That means the quality of what it reports back is degrading over time.

What Does AI in Marketing Mean for Your Business?

It’s the same idea. AI models were trained on millions of human created images and designs. Now, since a large portion of the material is not human created, it’s learning from itself.

It’s like making a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy. Every copy loses a bit of clarity until it’s a jagged mess leading to watery, indiscernible marketing content.

Here’s an example. Earlier this year, a client needed an ad for George Magazine. As an experiment for this article, I gave AI the same design brief. The difference is clear. The generic looking, AI produced design would have blended into the sea of sameness.

Human Created Ad

AI Created Ad

Let's Look Further

Another example is Coke's Christmas ad from 2024. Viewers felt universally uncomfortable. It started off okay despite the weird hand, but when the AI generated people showed up, it felt eerie. It didn't work.

The holiday AI debacle

Fast forward to 2025 and Coke's new Christmas ad uses the same artificial intelligence approach. Except this time there are no humans at all. That's even eerier and it damaged their Norman Rockwell-esque Christmas marketing tradition.

Coke doubled down, it didn't work

Not to mention their solution was to eradicate humans as a focal point entirely. Is that where we're headed? Is that really where you want to go?

The Brand Safety Problem: "AI Stink”

There's even a term for it now: "AI stink," the growing sentiment that when content feels AI generated, it damages brand perception regardless of your product’s actual quality.

The Public is Voting with Their Wallets. 

Sure, some marketers report solid short-term ROI from AI generated marketing. But here's what they're actually measuring: cost-per-lead/sale. A few bucks saved per customer.

What they're not measuring? The fact that 36 to 40% of consumers think less of your brand when they see AI generated marketing. 80% would switch to a competitor if they realized your marketing materials were AI generated. These perception costs don't show up in your quarterly reports.

They don't count brand value erosion, customer churn, or the long-term loyalty you're quietly destroying.

Something to Remember

You are a human being selling products and/or services to human beings. It’s vital to remember this. It takes a long time to build customer trust and a short time to dismantle it.

I hope this helps! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

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Sources & Further Reading

• Column Five Media (2025). New Study: 82.1% of Americans Can Spot AI-Generated Content. Read Study

• CivicScience (2025). AI Impact on Advertising: Consumers Growing Negative Toward AI. Read Report

• ContentGrip (2024). Study: 80% of consumers switch brands due to AI emails. Read Article

• Clutch (2025). AI in Branding: Why 33% of Consumers React Negatively. Read Insights

• Graphite (2025). More Articles Are Now Created by AI Than Humans. Read Analysis

• Axios (2025). Exclusive: AI writing hasn't overwhelmed the web yet. Read Exclusive