Can AI Ads Be Sufficient Replacements for Human Marketers and Artists?
- Zevez Zalay
- Oct 21, 2025
- 10 min read
Updated: Nov 11, 2025
Skechers UNO AI campaigns receive harsh backlash from Gen Z
Zevez Zalay
Written on October 15th, 2025, 8:51 pm ET
Related Topics: Skechers, Tariffs, Trump’s Tariffs, Cost of Goods, Fashion Industry, US Politics, Shoe Companies, Outsourced Manufacturing, AI Marketing, AI Efficiency, Ethics of AI Usage, Shoe Industry, Company Buyouts, 3G
If you peruse through your mother’s closet, you're bound to find a pair of cushioned Skechers on her shoe shelf. Known for providing comfort to many consumers at an affordable price, Skechers has recently been pushed to make controversial decisions on how they keep their company alive. May 5th, 2025, Skechers ended up selling their company to 3G Capital: “[Skechers] agreed to be taken private by 3G Capital for $9.42 billion in the footwear industry's biggest buyout to date” due to the increased costs of their outsourced manufacturing in China and Vietnam due to Trump’s tariffs (Reuters, 2025). 3G is known for bringing back companies such as Burger King and Kraft Heinz from less-than-desirable situations using cost-cutting measures (Forbes, 2025). One of their most controversial measures is utilizing AI over human creativity. Is it worse to allow 3G to utilize AI for cost-cutting measures, or should Skechers have bitten the bullet and fired employees to keep human creativity circulating in their company?
Why choose AI?
On the outside, it can be easy to shame the brand for its usage of AI, with many calling it “tacky”, “cheap”, or “cutting corners”. Taking a look at the larger situation can help to put context to the choices that the big sneaker brand made (Fortune, 2024; Yahoo, 2025). Forbes puts the financial losses into perspective by looking at Skechers' sales over the past 12 months,
Its $9.1 billion in sales in the last 12 months are up 10% year-over-year, and its net profit during that span was $726 million, but Trump’s tariffs are likely to hurt or eliminate those margins unless he softens his stance. Dozens of footwear businesses including Skechers, Nike and Adidas sent Trump a letter in April asking to be exempted from the tariffs and calling the anticipated cost increases an “existential threat.” Skechers’ annual report, which mentions China 58 times, says most of its shoes are manufactured in China and Vietnam, and it has a 1.6 million square foot distribution center in Taicang, China. (Forbes, 2025)
Unfortunately for Skechers, other shoe brands, and any other company outsourcing textile production to these countries, they were not exempt from the tariffs. Thus, if nothing changes externally, companies like Skechers will be forced to look internally to see how they could survive times like these, where their cost of goods would be raised by Trump’s 145% tariff on China and 46% in Vietnam (Forbes, 2025). This prompted the question of how to stay alive during this time of crisis.Given the tariffs, Skechers decides to sell to 3G after being in business for 33 years. Not only was it a smart financial move to sell the company for $9.42 billion, but over 17,900 employees got to keep their jobs, and there could be employee benefits to the cost-cutting through the usage of AI. In a different Forbes article titled, “How AI is Impacting The Skills of Gen Zers In The Workplace,” they talk about the potential benefits and threats. The benefits being:
Closing gaps in different employee skill levels
Increasing work efficiency
Less time on repetitive tasks; more time for creativity (Forbes, 2025)
In this light, cutting corners through the usage of AI seemed like an upgrade more than a downside. In comparison to laying off employees for purposes of financial reasons, this was a much safer bet that could potentially allow for even more creativity in the workplace. However, consumers did not end up feeling the same.
Public Opinion on AI
This past summer, I stumbled upon a lineup of 3 posters in a subway in Baltimore, which were promoting Skechers’ UNO line of comfort shoes. While some may not look too closely at these campaigns, for those who give it a second glance, you are immediately aware that it is AI.
When I first saw these posters, I was shocked. I stood in the Subway with my partner, who is studying software engineering, to digest that as a marketing student, I may also be losing future job opportunities to AI prompting, so companies like Skechers can save a couple of dollars. I ended up showing the ad to my aunt, who has guided me through my college journey thus far, to which she stated, “I think these are meant to attract a younger crowd; it's animated and colorful, you may not like it, but you’re the target audience” (2025). However, it seems I am not the only member of Gen Z to share sentiments of fear and upset when viewing these campaigns. The photographer of this post, Jonathan Ramirez, captioned, “these vile AI Generated ads have popped up in the NYC Subway system from Skechers. I don't know how long they were on display, but it's sad that this was considered passable by anyone” (Ramirez, 2025). While others who have seen the UNO ads have gone as far to say, “I think we can all tell that your AI is clearly sampling porn,” regarding the folds in the jeans, and the emphasis on the subject’s crotch (Onyxwhy, 2025). Overall, TikTok creator named, “polishlaurapalmer” covers the majority of Skechers' young target audience by stating, “I wish people who use AI for art understand that now I hate this. You actually didn’t save any money because now I hate you, now I don’t ever want to buy a Skechers shoe again,” (polishlaurapalmer, 2024).
Benefits to human creativity
Unfortunately, these Subway ads were not the only instances of Skechers using AI in their marketing. Back in December of 2024, Skechers was featured in the Winter edition of Vogue magazine. With an entire page featuring their brand, they decided to use AI as a quick fix to fill the space.
A TikTok creator going by the name “Rensfaire” decided to channel their disappointment in the sneaker brand by showing how humans can produce better results than a sentence input into ChatGPT (Rensfaire, 2025).
While the attempt has a sketchy nature instead of a rendered animated look, it hints at fashion designers’ couture sketches, the art of fashion, and a red emphasis drawing your eye to the shoes themselves. Many of the commenters on the post were in agreement that the ad shows better relevance in regard to the placement of the ad, and is more effective at putting emphasis on the UNO line. Additionally, the line, “the UNO for all occasions…” shows that Skechers could have a place in high fashion.
In addition to Rensfaire's visual argument, Forbes mentions the downsides to the overuse of AI as we have seen in the aforementioned campaigns. Which are:
Weakening of critical thinking skills
Less diverse outcomes
Missing the big picture (Forbes, 2025)
These downsides may not look like much in light of the benefits of AI for Skechers, but losing the attributes of human-generated work can make consumers turn their backs on a brand. For the weakening of critical thinking skills, many viewers of the Skechers AI campaigns were shocked that the employees who generated these ads didn’t look anything over. Such as the remarks made about their AI referencing porn, or the subjects in the images not even wearing the shoes they’re marketing (Onyxwhy, 2025; polishlaurapalmer, 2024). We’ve also seen less diverse outcomes, with some of their ads stating, “available for men and women,” but their visuals mostly featuring white, blonde women. Finally, employees may rely on AI too much and not see the bigger picture, which Rensfaire made very clear in their remaking of the brand’s winter Vogue feature in 2024. Skechers is not known to be a high-fashion brand, but by advertising in Vogue, the company is trying to suggest that high-comfort footwear can have a place in high-fashion. By creating an ad that has visuals and text that match the placement of the ad, one sees the full picture; by not having the sneakers worn and not delivering a clear message based on the context, one misses the bigger picture.
Spotting AI in Skechers campaigns
Skechers does not transparently identify the images as being AI-generated, so at first glance, you may think these campaigns are completely fine, but with a more careful look, we can see some oddities in the images. For example, the subway ad to the right of Ramirez’s photo, we can see odd foldings on the jeans near the lower stomach, the images on the lanterns do not clearly represent any Kanji or figures, and the subject is just as tall as the buildings that they’re next to. For the Vogue page, polishlaurapalmer commented on the odd fold cut-offs on the left side of the red dress, the gibberish on the shop awning, the warped faces in the background, and the fact that the models are wearing heels and not the sneakers that they are trying to advertise. (polishlaurapalmer, 2024).
To use AI or not to use AI
Looking at the benefits and consequences of AI, is it really the right thing for us to be implementing in our companies to help regulate operating costs? For smaller companies, AI could be used for assistance with idea generation to supplement smaller team sizes, but still not completely replace small business teams. On the corporate end, I think there are more factors that can be put on the chopping block for limiting expenses. Businesses should take into account what tariffs or other financial strains they’re facing and if there are better alternatives. For Skechers, if their unit cost for one shoe is $10, just to bring it to the U.S. to sell is an additional $14.50. Which leaves them with a couple of decisions. Put simply, they can raise the price of their sneakers for the consumer, which risks their place in the competitive market, or they can find a way to reduce their costs. While AI is a way to reduce costs, the overuse of it is a lack of an outcome centric approach, or a teleological framework. By not considering the outcomes they are risking how the public views the quality of their company, especially with the lack of transparency when AI is used. Harvard Business Review put together a list of ways that companies can cut costs, before moving to more extreme measures, some of which include: combining major events, spending less on supervising, auditing miscellaneous spending, eliminating busy work, and revising team deliverables scheduling for efficiency (Harvard Business Review, 2010). Thus, for larger companies considering AI, I would stop and reflect first:
How does my consumer base view AI usage?
Is the risk of relying on AI worth it for the amount of money saved?
Are there other methods of cost-cutting that have not been tried yet?
How do employees view AI usage in regard to their job satisfaction?
Does using AI automatically diminish the value of human creativity?
Does using AI lead to layoffs due to AI replacing human-curated work?
In addition to the questions regarding internal and external views on AI usage, it’s important, as a larger company with more resources, to take a look at what content is being made and the process for making said content within your industry:
Is AI normal to use as an assistive tool, or more as a full-time employee?
How is AI usage being credited or “compensated”?
What are the best practices of transparency when using AI?
If the answers to those questions are satisfactory to you and your team, and using AI to cut costs is still worth it, it's crucial to reflect on how the work completed by AI is being reviewed or checked:
Is the quality of work reflective of who we are as a company?
Could the AI be creating ads that could be seen as odd or offensive to different types of cultures?
Do the ads being produced have relevance to where they are being displayed or what products we are trying to bring awareness to?
As AI usage is a controversial subject, it’s important to reflect on the need, implementation, and potential consequences of its usage–just like any cost-cutting-related decision within a company. Since AI is very user-friendly, it can be easy to jump into decisions regarding its usage; just because we don’t need to consult the AI about its workload doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t consult with our stakeholders about its usage.
I believe AI can be a powerful tool to help implement effective cost-cutting strategies mentioned by Harvard Business Review, but overusing it, or using it to completely replace employees, may have employees question their need to stay at a company, their job satisfaction, or it may be shunned by your consumer base, as we’ve seen with Skechers. On the other hand, it is possible that by striking a balance with AI usage, you could increase job satisfaction, reduce busy work and other costly actions, and improve the marketing campaigns that your team is putting out there. Right now, I don’t think AI is at a point where it can fully encapsulate the human interest, visual digestion, and emotional impact that a marketing campaign can have on us. The balance could be using a talented marketing team to help capture human emotions, culture, and preferences that AI lacks, and to have your team use AI in the areas where they need assistance.
Resources
@onyxwhy. (n.d.). [Video about Skechers or related topic] [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@onyxwhy/video/7544105112638115085
@polishlaurapalmer. (n.d.). [Video about Skechers or related topic] [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@polishlaurapalmer/video/7442868198615108920
@rensfaire. (n.d.). [Video about Skechers or related topic] [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@rensfaire/video/7531498424210853150
Footwear brand Skechers to be taken private in $9 billion deal. (2025, May 5). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/footwear-brand-skechers-be-taken-private-9-billion-deal-2025-05-05/
Number of employees of Skechers worldwide from 2014 to 2024. (n.d.). Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/819316/number-of-employees-of-skechers-worldwide/
Reddit user. (2025, n.d.). Skechers AI ad found in the subway (someone) [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/graphic_design/comments/1mhp307/skechers_ai_ad_found_in_the_subway_someone/
Segal, E. (2025, April 6). How AI is impacting skills of Gen Zers in the workplace. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2025/04/06/how-ai-is-impacting-skills-of-gen-zers-in-the-workplace/
Skechers U.S.A., Inc. 2024 Annual Report. (2024). AnnualReports.com. https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReports/PDF/NYSE_SKX_2024.pdf
Skechers’ tacky AI ad is pure cringe. (2025). Yahoo News. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/skechers-tacky-ai-ad-pure-130000762.html
Thompson, A. (2024, December 14). Skechers draws backlash for full-page ad in Vogue that reeks of AI: “You actually didn’t save any money because now I hate you.” Fortune. https://fortune.com/2024/12/14/skechers-draw-backlash-for-full-page-ad-in-vogue-that-reeks-of-ai-you-actually-didnt-save-any-money-because-now-i-hate-you/
Tucker, H. (2025, May 7). 3G Capital unfazed by trade war with China in $9 billion Skechers deal. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/hanktucker/2025/05/07/3g-capital-unfazed-by-trade-war-with-china-in-9-billion-skechers-deal/
Jonathan Ramirez. (2025 August, 8). [Instagram post]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DNFRk-5Mbp8/
When you’ve got to cut costs—Now. (2010, May). Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2010/05/when-youve-got-to-cut-costs-now
Your post captures a fascinating and timely dilemma — the ethical balance between creativity and efficiency in AI-generated advertising. I like that you discussed both the potential benefits and the loss of human authenticity, showing how innovation can also create moral tension. You could enrich the post by referencing a specific campaign or company currently using AI ads to illustrate your point more concretely. The conversational tone makes the complex topic accessible, and your questioning style keeps readers engaged. It’s a nuanced take that recognizes both progress and the value of human artistry in a digital age.
I really liked how you broke down the Skechers case and connected it to the bigger question of whether AI can actually replace human creativity. You did a great job showing both sides of how AI can help with efficiency and cost-cutting, but also how it can backfire when it lacks emotional depth or cultural awareness. The examples from the subway ads and the Vogue feature really helped show the real-world impact of those choices. I also liked how you included the public reactions, it made the argument feel more grounded and relevant
This was fascinating post. I found that both the economic and ethical complexities behind Skechers’ decision to rely on AI after its acquisition by 3G Capital was interesting. I liked how you started your argument in the financial aspect of Trump’s tariffs and the pressures global manufacturing is facing. It helped me understand why Skechers might have turned to AI. I liked the balance between your empathy for the company’s situation and criticism of their marketing choices, which made it feel neutral. On the public reaction section, I liked how you included your personal experience with the subway ads and the social media backlash, which added a human perspective to it and that made your argument much stronger.
Being a beginner artist using AI in art it really doesn't sit right with me when big companies us AI as a shortcut because it a slap in the face for artist who make a living off of taking contracts and doing commissions to make a living. But it was interesting to see how how using AI within big companies have serious effects on there brand image and consumer trust I knew it would have a impact but I didn't think it would be thing big especially among the newer generation. I also gained a new perspective on ethical implications for substituting human artist for AI art that would be used for adverting content.
What specific changes could companies like…