Generative artificial intelligence has garnered attention over the past few years, with the Pew Research Center reporting that last year, half of surveyed United States citizens grew concerned about people using AI in everyday life.
Many Americans also showed concern about what was in the ads they got, how advertisers and platforms used data to target them and how long their ads were.
A few notable cases of generative AI use in advertising are Coca-Cola’s and McDonalds’ 2025 Christmas advertisements.
“The Coca-Cola Christmas ad that used AI pissed me off because there were so many inconsistencies,” Juliette Leyva, 21, animation and English major, said. “I’m not a fan of it because I’m an artist. Artificial intelligence removes any human input.”
Oduro Takyi, adjunct faculty member in the business department, said while consumers prefer human-made content over AI, “businesses are not letting that stop them from using AI.”
The marketing of certain products, ideas and services also raised ethical concerns.
“I see different smoking advertisements or even weight loss advertisements,” Catherine Crawford, 18, political science major, said. “Targeting a lot of people who are struggling with these things makes it seem like this is the only solution.”
Takyi said that ads can be exploitative to children, elderly people, non-native speakers and poor people because these groups are “more susceptible to deceptive marketing, preying on their desperation, limited comprehension and cognition.”
“The most recent advertisement that made me deeply uncomfortable was one on Telemundo, which is a Hispanic TV program,” Leyva said.
Leyva said the Department of Homeland Security advertisement encouraged “self-deportation.” This and other advertisements led to a grassroots Telemundo boycott, which calls for the channels to stop airing ICE and DHS ads.
“The issue of privacy rights is always in the news,” Takyi said. “Consumers also have to worry about hackers, state agents and digital thieves who seek to illegally profit by stealing private information stored on advertiser websites.”
Streaming sites like YouTube have increased advertisement length to find niche audiences. Takyi said that ads can be “too long or poorly placed” in the current landscape, but it also came with nuances because of user experience.
“I’m watching a lot more cable lately,” Crawford said.“Every 20 minutes there’s a section of two minute advertisements; it breaks up the movie in a weird way.”
Leyva said they generally don’t have an issue with placement and length of ads, but that YouTube served them 40-minute-long Oprah interviews as ads before.
Crawford said she got ads for De Anza events on Instagram and that it’s good to inform students about what’s going on at campus.
Leyva also said they got ads for gender affirming care products such as binders, which felt “healing” to them; they said the data corporations gathered on them helped them access resources they otherwise wouldn’t have.
Takyi said advertisements help the economy and bolster employment. The competition that advertisements bring between different companies, Takyi said, helps keep prices down.
“I understand advertisement is something that, in a way, is necessary for companies to actually get their footing,” Leyva said. “I encourage small businesses to make use of advertisements in any way that they can.”
