What is AI fishing, and what the Dior row means for beauty brands

What is AI fishing?

Think of catfishing, where someone pretends to be a person they're not. AI fishing is the brand version. A campaign, product or film is presented as the work of human hands, an illustrator, an animator, an artisan, when AI made it, or made more of it than the story admits.

The appeal is obvious. Handmade carries warmth and effort, and people will pay more for it. AI is cheaper and faster. Claiming the first while doing the second gets you both, until somebody looks closely.

It isn't the same as using AI. Plenty of good work uses AI somewhere in the process, and most people don't mind. The problem starts when the marketing leans on the human story and that story isn't true.

What happened with Dior's holiday film?

In early November 2026 Dior released an animated holiday film, Christian Dior's Night in Colour, directed by Sylvain Chomet and narrated by Robert Pattinson. Dior described the campaign as entirely hand illustrated, and it landed at a moment when a lot of holiday advertising was being criticised as AI slop.

Within days, viewers were posting frames they said gave it away, most often characters drawn with six fingers. The accusation spread quickly, partly because the film had been positioned as the handmade alternative.

Chomet denied using generative AI. He said automation was used only for the repetitive, mechanical part of animation, and that the odd frames were drawn on purpose to suggest movement. The producer, Aton Soumache, said the film took seven months and was drawn by artists, and the team said an automated system filled in some of the in-between frames.

We're not in a position to say who's right, and the visual quirks people pointed to can happen in traditional animation too. What matters for other brands is how the argument unfolded.

Why did it blow up?

Because the handmade story was the selling point. Nobody would have audited the frames of an ordinary holiday ad. Once a brand says "made by hand", the method becomes something people can check, and they did.

It also shows how blurry the line has become. Animation studios have used software to help with in-between frames for years. Is that AI? Is it hand drawn? Different people will answer differently, and a brand that makes a strong claim without explaining the process leaves the internet to decide for it.

The lesson isn't to avoid AI. It's to make sure the story you tell about how something was made would survive a close look.

Is passing off AI work as handmade illegal in the UK?

There is no UK rule that says every AI made ad must be labelled. But advertising and consumer law already ban misleading claims, and "handmade", "hand drawn" or "made by our artisans" are claims like any other. If the claim isn't true and it could affect what people buy or how they see the brand, it is likely to be treated as misleading.

The Advertising Standards Authority has said its rules apply to ads however they were made. We cover the wider rules in do you have to label AI ads and the platform side in do AI ads get approved on Meta and TikTok.

This is general information, not legal advice. If a claim about how something was made is central to a campaign, run it past whoever checks your claims.

Where else is this happening?

The cruder version is already common in ecommerce. In May 2026 an ABC News investigation found dozens of online shops using AI to invent craftspeople, including videos of fake artisans making the products and a "retiring craftsman" story used to sell supposedly handmade hats that shipped from mainland China.

Beauty is exposed in its own way. Hand painted packaging, hand poured candles, illustrated campaign art and "real skin, no retouching" all sell on the idea of a human touch. Each of those is a claim, and each can be checked.

How should beauty brands talk about AI in their work?

Say what you did, in plain words. "Made with AI, directed and checked by our team" is honest and most customers won't think twice about it. What damages trust is finding out afterwards.

• Only use handmade, hand drawn or hand illustrated if a person actually made the thing being shown.
• If AI helped with part of the process, say which part.
• Keep the files, sketches and drafts that show how the work was made, in case anyone asks.
• Brief agencies and studios on what they can and can't claim on your behalf.
• Keep the product itself real. Shade, texture and pack should match what the customer receives.

There's more on this in do AI product images hurt customer trust.

How we handle it at the studio

Our work is made with AI and we say so. Every frame is directed and checked by a person against the brand's real product, and we don't fabricate before and after results or present AI people as real customers.

We're also honest with clients about where AI isn't the right fit. If a brief needs real people using the product on camera, a genuine review, a creator's own routine or the feel of a phone in someone's bathroom, UGC or a real creator will usually do it better, and we'll say so before any work starts. The same goes for anything that has to be truly handmade. Pointing a brand somewhere else now and then is part of why they trust us with the work AI does do well.

If you're unsure how to describe AI work in a campaign, our AI consultancy can help set the rules before anything goes out.

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