AI model backlash: what went wrong for Guess and Valentino in 2025

Two of fashion's most visible AI model campaigns in 2025 triggered consumer backlash despite different approaches to disclosure. Guess faced criticism in August 2025 when a two-page advertisement in American Vogue featured AI-generated models, whilst Valentino drew widespread criticism in December 2025 after posting an AI-generated video on Instagram promoting its DeVain handbag. The episodes exposed a deeper issue: minimal disclosure inflames consumer anger, yet even clear labelling may not prevent reputational damage for luxury brands.

What happened with the Guess advertisement in Vogue?

The AI-generated models in the Guess advertisements were created by Seraphinne Vallora, a London-based AI marketing agency that created two different models for the campaign, a blonde model dubbed Vivienne and a brunette model dubbed Anastasia. The company's founders, Valentina Gonzalez and Andreea Petrescu, told the BBC that they were asked to create the AI model for this campaign by Paul Marciano, co-founder of Guess, via a message on Instagram.

Vogue included a footnote confirming the images came from AI, but readers flooded the magazine's social platforms with criticism. The campaign drove 2.7 million TikTok views, boycott threats and fashion panic on the internet. A representative for Vogue's parent company Condé Nast confirmed to CNN that an AI model has never appeared editorially in Vogue, emphasising that the Guess placement was paid advertising content.

How did Valentino's DeVain campaign unfold?

The video, part of what Valentino described as a digital creative project developed with digital artists, featured surreal visuals of bodies and logos morphing around the bag. The Instagram post promoting the handbag, which has a label to say it was made using AI, shows a surreal collage of models spliced between Valentino logos and its DeVain bag.

Unlike Guess, Valentino proactively disclosed the AI use. Valentino faced anger despite clearly labelling its AI-generated DeVain handbag video. Some users described the ads as uninteresting, cheap, and lazy. One replier to the ad posted: Valentino is the last brand I imagined would think gimmick of AI surrealism is marketable. Anti-class, anti-taste, anti-luxury.

Why did disclosure fail to protect brand reputation?

Both cases demonstrated that disclosure alone cannot neutralise consumer backlash. Dr Rebecca Swift, senior vice president of creative at Getty Images, said consumers predominantly view AI-created works as less valuable than human-made images. While people are excited by AI-generated content for personal use, they hold brands to a higher standard, especially expensive brands. Even full transparency about AI use wasn't enough to win them over.

Others warned that many consumers interpret the use of generative AI as a sign of cost-cutting rather than innovation. Anne-Liese Prem, head of cultural insights and trends at creative digital agency Loop, said that without a strong emotional idea behind it, generative AI can make luxury feel less human at a moment when people want human presence more than ever.

The scale of the disclosure mattered. H&M's prominent watermarks and model pay drew far less heat than Guess's buried fine print, whilst the Guess and Vogue backlash showed that audiences react badly to AI imagery that is disclosed only in small print.

What do the new disclosure laws require?

Fashion brands now face mandatory disclosure rules in multiple jurisdictions. The EU AI Act Article 50 requires deepfakes to be labelled from 2 August 2026. New York's Synthetic Performer Disclosure Law has applied since 9 June 2026: any ad featuring a synthetic performer needs a clear and conspicuous disclosure. California's SB 1050, signed 16 September 2026, requires disclosure from 1 January 2027.

The visible disclosure to the consumer is the brand's responsibility, and applies from 2 August 2026. The brand publishing the image is responsible for a visible disclosure that it has been artificially generated, presented where the consumer first sees the image. Disclosure buried in terms and conditions or a footer does not meet the standard.

The regulations address different AI model types. A fully digital model, a synthetic performer who is not presented as a copy of a particular person, but who appears in an ad as if they were a real human performer, will require disclosure effective June 9. The New York Fashion Workers Act, effective June 19 2025, directly addresses AI use involving fashion models, requiring separate consent for digital replicas of real models' likenesses.

What does consumer research reveal about AI model acceptance?

Consumer sentiment data shows strong demand for transparency but mixed tolerance for AI imagery. In Clutch's 2025 research, 90 per cent of consumers want brands to disclose their use of AI. Sixty-two per cent of consumers said they would lose trust in a brand that used AI models without disclosure, according to a Capgemini Research Institute survey published in 2026.

32 per cent of US and UK consumers say AI is negatively disrupting the creator economy, up from 18 per cent in 2023, according to July 2025 data from Billion Dollar Boy. 31 per cent of consumers say AI in ads makes them less likely to pick a brand, according to a July 2025 CivicScience survey.

Detection and transparency gaps persist. Clutch's September 2025 study found that 57 per cent of consumers were unable to correctly identify AI-generated photos, despite 66 per cent feeling confident beforehand. A 2025 Stylitics/Aha Studio survey of 411 shoppers found 71 per cent could not tell a real product photo from an AI-generated one shown side by side.

How should brands approach AI model deployment in 2026?

Industry analysis suggests disclosure must be paired with strategic restraint. Broader consumer sentiment supports this finding: 63 per cent of US consumers believe brands have a duty to disclose AI use in marketing. A peer-reviewed study reinforced this, finding consumers rate AI models lower than human models in fashion advertising, with the gap widest for luxury brands.

Diesel, Gucci, Collina Strada, Baggu, Selkie, Mango, H&M, Zalando, Guess and Levi's are just a few of the brands that have also faced public criticism after using generative AI models or imagery in their campaigns. A New York model sued Rainbow Shops this spring over AI images generated from an expired contract; the state's new Fashion Workers Act now requires consent for models' digital replicas.

Best practice requires visible labelling, not buried notices. In the US, New York's Synthetic Performer Disclosure Law took effect on 9 June, requiring any advertisement featuring a synthetic performer to include a clear and conspicuous disclosure within the piece. According to the regulation, disclosure must reach the viewer clearly and at first exposure, and cannot be buried in terms and conditions or left to machine-readable metadata alone.

Researchers recommend that brands using AI-generated models in socially conscious campaigns do three things: disclose the use of AI, pair the disclosure with concrete information about the brand's real-world commitment to the cause and explain how the AI was responsibly developed. The Guess and Valentino cases in 2025 demonstrated that even proactive disclosure cannot fully insulate brands from reputational risk when consumers perceive AI as devaluing craft or authenticity.