”Kan ingenting vara på riktigt nu för tiden?”: En kvalitativ studie om konsumenters känslomässiga reaktioner på AI-genererad reklam.

Sammanfattning

This study researches how consumers respond to knowing an ad is AI-generated, and which motives underlie these responses. To achieve this the study gathers data through interviews combined with a discourse analysis of online threads discussing different AI ads. The analysis, which is done through the lens of Raymond Williams’s concept of structures of feeling, shows that many consumers treat AI-generated ads as cultural objects associated with existential dread over the loss of human presence, creativity, and work opportunities. However, these anxieties are usually mixed with an acknowledgement of the potential and inevitability of AI, and an uncertainty of what the consumer's personal position should be. The study finds that the responses to AI are the products of an emotional landscape that lacks clear established meanings and values, which causes us to channelize broad societal concerns into a simple advertisement. This understanding is crucial for shaping future approaches to advertising and AI integration. Finally, the study offers definitions for new AI-related structures of feeling.