You Can’t Automate Authenticity: How Brands Are Using AI Without Losing Their Human Touch
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the creative landscape fast. For marketers, it’s a tool that can speed up production, sharpen targeting, and personalise at scale. But AI also raises questions about authenticity, brand trust, and the value of human creativity.
Recent moves by the hairdressing sector, Polaroid and Dove highlight three distinct approaches: embrace, adapt, or push back, that marketers should be watching closely.
1. Hairdressing: Adopting AI Where It Adds Value
According to a July 2025 NHBF survey:
When asked whether AI systems can enhance the efficiency of salon operations. The responses were as follows:
36% of respondents believe that AI can significantly enhance salon efficiency.
45% think AI can slightly improve operations.
18% are sceptical, thinking AI would not enhance efficiency at all.
When asked if they trust AI-powered styling suggestions, the responses were:
29% are very comfortable with AI-generated styling suggestions.
43% are not comfortable at all, preferring human expertise.
29% are wary, indicating a level of scepticism and caution.
The most unequivocal response from the survey was regarding the importance of human interaction during salon visits:
100% of respondents stated that human interaction is very important.
Salons are embracing AI for booking systems, client reminders, and targeted marketing, freeing staff to focus on the client experience. But when it comes to creativity and consultation, human skill and rapport remain irreplaceable.
Marketing takeaway: AI delivers the most value when it removes operational roadblocks while preserving the emotional, human side of the experience. In service-driven industries, it should be a tool that enhances the personal touch, not a substitute for it.
2. Dove: Protecting Brand Equity Through Authenticity
In April 2024, Dove became the first major beauty brand to pledge never to use AI-generated women in ads.
Its Real Beauty campaign film, “The Code”, exposed the narrow, unrealistic beauty ideals that AI imagery often produces.
Rather than rejecting AI entirely,
Dove released the Real Beauty Prompt Playbook, guiding others on how to use AI inclusively, while staying committed to real human representation.
Marketing takeaway: Dove understands that trust is currency. By doubling down on authenticity, it strengthens its brand promise and differentiates in a crowded beauty market. Sometimes the best marketing move is knowing what not to do.
3. Polaroid: Selling Experiences, Not Just Products
In July 2025, Polaroid launched "The Camera for an Analog Life", an unapologetically anti-AI, anti-screen campaign promoting its Flip instant camera.
The message was simple but powerful: nostalgic Polaroid imagery paired with headlines like “Real stories. Not stories & reels” and “No one on their deathbed ever said: I wish I’d spent more time on my phone.”
The brand went beyond billboards, placing ads near tech landmarks like Apple Stores and hosting phone-free walking tours in Paris, Tokyo, and London.
Marketing takeaway: Polaroid tapped into cultural tension, the fatigue of hyper-digital living, and positioned its product as the antidote. For brands, this shows the power of aligning with a consumer sentiment and turning it into an experience, not just an ad. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
The Marketing Lesson Across All Three Industries
Whether it’s Polaroid pushing against AI, Dove protecting brand values, or the hairdressing industry using AI with boundaries, the principle is the same:
✅ Be clear on your brand’s stance on AI, embrace it, reject it, or use it selectively.
✅ Anchor campaigns in human truth; people connect with authenticity and emotion more than with algorithms.
✅ Use AI strategically, as a brand amplifier, not a brand replacement.
In a marketing world obsessed with speed and scale, the brands standing out are those that know when to slow down, show their human side, and use AI with intention.
Our Take at Big Little Content 💭
For us, the conversation isn’t about being “pro” or “anti” AI, it’s about balance. The right mix of automation and human touch is what separates brands that feel soulless from those that feel alive.
AI can power efficiency, but only people can create trust, nuance, and emotional connection.
AI is brilliant at taking care of the heavy lifting: analysing data at scale, streamlining repetitive tasks, and helping brands get content into the right hands faster. But where it stops and where humans must step in is in giving meaning. Storytelling, empathy, humour, and emotional depth are not just nice-to-haves; they’re what make content resonate. They’re the reasons people remember a brand, not just scroll past it.
At Big Little Content, we believe the brands that will win are the ones that use AI as an accelerator, not a replacement, combining the speed and precision of technology with the authenticity and originality of human touch.
That’s the balance. That’s the sweet spot. And it’s where we’ll always stand.
