Artificial Intelligence for Marketing: When should businesses disclose AI use for brand advertising?

In our earlier article, we explored what consumers feel about businesses using artificial intelligence (AI) in their advertising – from creating visuals and text to showcasing their products, through creating virtual brand ambassadors to represent their brand, to making decisions on their ad communications.

But, among consumers who are not opposed to brands using AI in their marketing, how many feel it is important that brands publicly acknowledge such AI use?

AI in advertising: When do consumers want brands to disclose their use?

Latest YouGov Surveys research across 17 international markets has found that, across all five potential applications of AI in advertising polled, a clear majority of consumers globally think brands ought to make known instances where they do so.

Around two-thirds (65-68%) of consumers who are comfortable with AI being used to create brand ambassadors (in place of real-life celebrity figures), and to generate or edit images used in advertising (in place of product photography subsequently edited by graphic designers), nonetheless think brands that do make use of AI in such ways ought to disclose instances where they do so.

Meanwhile, around three in five consumers (59-60%) not averse to the use of AI to produce advertising descriptions and taglines (in place of copywriters) and decide media placements of ads (in place of advertising professionals), also think brands that do so should acknowledge their use of AI in their communications.

To what extent do consumers across markets want brands to disclose AI-generated advertising?

Among markets polled, consumers in Australia, Spain, Poland, India, Mexico, Indonesia, UAE and France are most likely to think disclosure of AI use in advertising is important: three-fifths or more think brands ought to make known instances where they have used AI, across all five scenarios presented.

Here’s the proportion of consumers in each market who think various AI applications in advertising warrant disclosure, among those who are broadly comfortable with each potential AI use:

Virtual brand ambassadors

• 70-76% of consumers: Australia, Spain, Poland, Britain, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Sweden and Hong Kong,
• 61-67% of consumers: UAE, USA, Singapore, Canada, France, Italy and Denmark
• 59% of consumers: Germany

Generating product images

• 70-75% of consumers: Britain, Poland, Indonesia, Spain, India, Australia
• 61-68% of consumers: UAE, Mexico, Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Canada, Italy, USA, Sweden
• 56-59% of consumers: Denmark, Germany

Editing product images

• 70-71% of consumers: Spain, Britain, Indonesia
• 60-68% of consumers: Mexico, India, Australia, UAE, France, Poland, Canada, Italy, USA, Hong Kong
• 55-58% of consumers: Singapore, Denmark, Germany, Sweden

Copywriting ads / product descriptions

• 61-66% of consumers: Indonesia, Mexico, Spain, India, Australia, Poland, UAE, France, Canada
• 51-59% of consumers: Italy, Britain, Hong Kong, USA, Singapore, Germany, Sweden
• 47% of consumers: Denmark,

Deciding ad media placements / targeting:

• 60-68% of consumers: India, Indonesia, Mexico, Spain, UAE, Hong Kong, Poland, France, Australia
• 52-59% of consumers: Britain, Singapore, Canada, Italy, USA
• 43-48% of consumers: Germany, Sweden, Denmark

Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provides quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 500 and 2,040 for each market. All surveys were conducted online during January 2024. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.

_{Cover Photo by We Are}