We’ve seen plenty of examples of dodgy AI advertising from big brands including McDonald’s and Coca-Cola in recent months. But if there’s one industry we wouldn’t expect to see churning out egregiously obvious slop, it’s tech.
So it’s a little surprising to see Samsung slopping all over its social media feeds with a bunch of badly rendered ads designed, ironically, to highlight upcoming Galaxy S26 series’s AI capabilities.
Take, for example, the above ad titled ‘Brighten your after hours’. The ad is ostensibly advertising the ability to brighten dark videos. But the crappy AI distracts from the actual message. Why are the skateboarding men’s suits so shiny? Why does the road suddenly transform from paved to cobbled?
The ad ends with the line, ‘Can your phone do that?’ Which is a bit rich – judging by the need for AI, presumably Samsung’s can’t either.
Needless to say, the comments aren’t kind. “Samsung really?! AI slop to show your new Ultra camera night time performance?,” one viewer complains, while another adds, “I was actually interested in moving from an iPhone until I saw this. This is garbage and I want nothing to do with it.” Another pithily concludes, ‘This is the best iPhone ad’.
No spotlight needed. Can your phone do that? 🔆 Get ready for the next level of Nightography with #GalaxyAI to light up any occasion.Reserve now: https://t.co/dTlilFNoHy pic.twitter.com/hTRTenNLjLFebruary 12, 2026
None of this is a good look for Samsung. Why advertise camera features using footage that didn’t come from the camera? Why hide the AI disclaimer in such tiny small-print at the bottom when the whole thing is so blatantly artificially generated?
Indeed, there seems to be a concerning trend here – if big brands like Samsung and Coca-Cola aren’t afraid to make their AI ads look so unapologetically shite, what do the next few years of advertising look like? The future’s not bright. The future’s sloppy.
