Part 1: AI’s Villain Era—Red Flags for Consumers and Brands
How to spot deceptive marketing strategies before they damage brand reputation and consumer trust.
I'm a big advocate of tech innovation and the power of AI. The pros feel obvious. AI drives efficiency and frees up creative minds to do what they do best.. be creative. But lately, I've been seeing a troubling trend in the UGC space. The number of brand crisis cases we're supporting has jumped significantly, showing how these hidden marketing tactics can quickly damage brand reputation when they go undetected.
So, I wanted to share what I've been seeing so you can be a conscious consumer of content as you scroll mindlessly on your FYP (me), equipped to spot these "tactical" marketing strategies before they influence you.
As someone who is chronically online, I’ve noticed more shady videos showing up on my FYP than ever before.
The content has range – it’s videos of consumers slamming brands for bad experiences, dangerous ingredients, or even suspiciously enthusiastic clips about a super niche life-changing product. And listen, this isn’t your low-quality Subway Surfers sludge content. This is often seemingly well-produced UGC. It’s a 20-something year old hot girl raving about the latest protein powder made from cows that were probably only fed meals at Eleven Madison Park – I joke, but the wellness supplement space is getting comically pretentious. Or a women telling you how beef tallow transformed her health – this one’s not even a joke. More to come in part two of this post. While it may feel like every online creator is coming out of the woodwork to scream their product reviews through a megaphone, it’s actually something much more suspicious.
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It’s a new era of AI-developed “user-generated” content, pumped out in droves to push consumers to purchase specific products via affiliate links. Now, I know UGC for the sake of pushing product purchases isn’t anything revolutionary. It’s been around for a while, dating all the way back to MLMs. Remember those?.. Eek, again.
The real development is that AI-generated UGC, combined with incentive programs like Whop, has become sophisticated enough to create massive volumes of product propaganda disguised as authentic content. And with AI services, just about anyone can pay pocket change to pump out hundreds to thousands of these videos into the TikTok or Reels sphere. This actually becomes pretty lucrative when the mastermind paying for the service is dropping an affiliate link into every video posted. That way, they can make bank as they deceive viewers into buying the niche products they’re advertising.
For some people, this is a whole new side gig pursuit. Just look at Whop, which incentivizes volumes of creators to pump out content or the guy behind the rise of beef tallow – he teaches an actual course about mastering faceless UGC.
As a broad trend, AI’s being used to deceive consumers and I’m seeing it happen right in front of my eyes. I am nearly positive you’ve encountered it, too, whether you knew it or not. And it’s scary for the consumer brand world. It’s bad for brands’ reputation and sales, and it’s bad for consumers. Honey, put down your beef tallow protein shake – the hottest dystopian thriller just dropped (and it’s real life lol).
Say hello to AI’s villain era.
Whether you’re scrolling through socials on your way to coffee or you’re a marketer trying to cut through the deception noise, it’s important to know how to spot this. So let’s get into it:
The Conspiracy Story Line
AI-developed user-generated slam content kind of works like a Hallmark movie. I’m not saying to keep your eyes peeled for a millennial in a bad red sweater who moved from the big city and found love in a hopeless place (you’d think they’d come up with something new by now). I’m saying there’s a formula for the content and once you’ve watched enough, you can’t shake it. It’s typically three simple parts:
Establishing an enemy: sharing a conspiracy about a brand or product (with some creepy mysterious audio to pair with it)
1-minute fluff: doing what it takes to keep the viewer engaged
Making the sale: urging viewers to buy the product using the link provided
As your internet friend who’s officially gone down the AI / Faceless UGC rabbithole, I’m also here with advice: always check the creator’s page for signs that something’s fishy. A lot of content about the same topic, suspiciously low follower counts, or impressive followings paired with low engagement are all signs that are easy to miss when you’re doomscrolling but trust me, it’s worth the few extra seconds – especially if you’re a marketer. Just take a look at the video below:
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Guys, this is no Disney villain. This is the real shit. It can change how consumers see brands, products, and pretty much everything else. Brands across ALL categories have been knocking on my door with crisis comms cases involving AI generated and/or faceless UGC. For some, sales are down because consumer attention is being swayed by false advertising that hypes competing products. Other brands are being torn down because their competitors are using AI services to pump out negative content as part of a takedown scheme.
We’re certainly seeing AI in its villain era but, fear not… There’s a white knight in town (spoiler: it’s Plot).
We can dig into consumer sentiment on social channels using Plot. A new trend’s taking TikTok by storm, and you can’t tell if it’s legit? Another problem Plot can answer. There’s a powerful use case with Plot here – not just tackling AI UGC but battling crisis comms cases of all sorts. The internet can be a scary place, and Plot is working in real time to build products that protect brands from a bleak new reality.
There’s so much more to come, so stay tuned.
In part two of this series, we’re diving into beef tallow and other case studies, and I’ll share how Plot’s AI analyst is the white knight we needed all along.
Xoxo,
Megan