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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsSome celebrities and rights holders are licensing digital replicas for controlled entertainment and advertising. At the same time, scammers use convincing face and voice clones to fabricate endorsements. Lionel Messi illustrates both sides: Hyperreal describes a licensed Messi digital identity for immersive experiences, while ESET has warned of a fake video that falsely depicted him promoting a money-making app. The key question is not simply whether AI was used, but whether the person authorized the specific use and whether viewers are told what they are seeing.
What counts as a deepfake, digital double or AI avatar?
These terms describe overlapping technologies, but they do not mean the same thing. A realistic-looking image alone cannot tell you how it was made or whether its use was approved.
- Deepfake: Manipulated or generated media that imitates a real person’s face, voice, body or expressions. The term is especially apt when the imitation is unauthorized or intended to deceive.
- Digital double: A computer-generated representation of a particular person, used in settings such as film, advertising, games or immersive experiences. It may be built using scans, performance capture, visual effects or AI.
- Digital twin: A broader digital representation that may combine a person’s appearance, voice, behavior and interactive software.
- AI avatar: A synthetic on-screen person that can deliver or generate content. It may be modeled on a real person, or be entirely fictional.
- AI-assisted commercial: An ad that uses AI or visual effects for some part of production—such as backgrounds, editing or localization—without necessarily creating a synthetic celebrity performance.
A celebrity can appear in a partly synthetic commercial in many ways: performing on camera while AI changes the background, recording approved lines for translation, being represented by a body double with digital compositing, or appearing as a fully synthetic avatar. Those workflows have different implications for consent, labor and disclosure. “AI was involved” does not by itself establish that a video is a deepfake, an endorsement or a scam.
What the Messi examples do—and do not—show
A licensed digital identity for immersive experiences
Hyperreal describes its Messi HyperModel as an authenticated digital identity used in two ticketed global immersive experiences, with multilingual fan engagement among its stated capabilities. That is a company’s description of its project; it establishes an announced digital-identity use, not that every appearance of a Messi avatar is an advertisement or a personal statement by Messi. Hyperreal’s Messi HyperModel page
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Earlier scanned-avatar work
Production artist Remington Scott describes an earlier interactive Messi experience built around scanning, a hyper-realistic 3D avatar and real-time integration. It is a historical example of a digital likeness, not proof that the work used today’s generative-video methods. Remington Scott’s project description
A reported beverage commercial
A 2026 Mumbai Mirror report said an Indian beverage commercial used a digital twin created from pre-approved Messi images, allowing the campaign to proceed without his physical attendance at the shoot. That is a secondary report; without direct confirmation from Messi’s representatives, the brand or production company, its account should be treated as reported rather than independently established. Mumbai Mirror’s report
AI and visual effects in a branded production
The Drum’s account of an Adidas campaign describes different visual versions of Messi from multiple World Cups brought together using visual effects and body doubles. That kind of deliberate branded production is not equivalent to a stranger fabricating an endorsement. Nor does a realistic face establish that generative AI created it. The Drum’s Adidas case study
A false money-making-app endorsement
ESET warned of a fraudulent video that falsely portrayed Messi promoting a money-making application; the presenter shown alongside him reportedly clarified that the video was deceptive. This is a different category from licensed digital-identity work: the likeness was used to lend false credibility to a promotion. ESET’s warning
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Why brands license synthetic celebrity performances
A rights-cleared digital likeness can give a campaign team options that are difficult to arrange with repeated physical shoots. Depending on the license and production, a brand may adapt a performance for different languages or formats, create variations for different markets, or reuse a digital asset in advertising, games and immersive experiences. Visual effects can also place a person at different ages or alongside earlier versions of themselves.
These are possibilities, not guaranteed savings. Scanning, modeling, performance capture, voice work, professional post-production, approvals, legal clearance and security all take resources. The economics depend on the project and on whether repeated uses are permitted; an avatar does not automatically make production cheaper or faster.
Consent is a contract, not a single checkbox
Permission to capture a face or voice does not necessarily answer whether a brand may generate new performances, translate them, or use them years later. A responsible agreement needs to define the scope of the license and who controls the underlying asset.
- Identity and source material: What may be captured—face, body, voice, motion or other performance—and how may the scans, recordings and training data be used?
- Scope: Which products, territories, languages, channels and campaign period are covered? Are political, medical, financial, gambling, adult or other sensitive categories excluded?
- Creative control: Who approves scripts, translations, edits and generated performances? Can the replica say words the person never personally recorded?
- Ownership and access: Who owns or controls the model and derivative assets? Who can use them, and what prevents access after the license ends?
- Compensation: Is payment a fixed license, campaign fee, usage-based payment, royalty or some combination? Are voice actors and other performers separately compensated?
- Duration and exit: What happens when the contract expires? Can the person revoke permission, and what must happen to stored models and existing campaign materials?
- Security and proof: Are access logs maintained, and can the brand document which outputs were approved?
SAG-AFTRA has publicly advocated consent and compensation protections for digital voice and likeness replication. That is the union’s position, not a statement that every proposed protection is already law. SAG-AFTRA on AI protections
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How unauthorized celebrity-ad scams are built
Fraudulent ads exploit the trust and attention attached to a recognizable face. A typical scam may reuse an interview, commercial, livestream or news clip, alter the person’s face or mouth movements, and replace the audio with a fabricated pitch. The finished video can then promote an investment scheme, gambling service, fake giveaway, dubious app or health product, using urgency and invented testimonials to push people toward a link.
The Ohio attorney general has warned consumers about false celebrity endorsements, including fake giveaways and product promotions involving figures such as Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez. Ohio Attorney General’s consumer warning
In a separate, time-bounded vendor estimate, threat-intelligence company Revelum reported identifying at least 10,000 deepfake scam ads impersonating football players over a 12-month period, including Messi impersonations. That is Revelum’s reported detection figure, not an independently audited total. Revelum’s report
How to check a suspicious celebrity ad
Visual clues can raise suspicion but cannot reliably prove a video is fake. High-quality synthesis may evade casual inspection; ordinary editing can also look strange. Verify the claim and the source rather than relying on a quick visual test.
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- Check official channels. Look for the campaign on the celebrity’s verified accounts and the brand’s official site or verified accounts. A repost or paid placement is not proof of approval.
- Find the product’s own landing page. Check whether it names the advertiser, explains the offer and provides verifiable business information. Do not assume a familiar logo or news-style graphic is genuine.
- Verify consequential claims independently. Do not send money, share account details or install an app merely because a celebrity appears to recommend it. Look for independent confirmation of financial, health or giveaway claims.
- Inspect, but do not over-trust, the video. Unnatural lip movement, voice cadence, lighting, hands, on-screen text or abrupt cuts can be warning signs. Their absence does not establish authenticity.
- Search for the footage elsewhere. A reverse image search using a screenshot or key frame may reveal an original interview or a debunking. A match can help identify reused footage, but does not alone settle whether the campaign is authorized.
- Report the ad. Use the platform’s ad-reporting tools and, where money or personal information is at risk, contact the relevant consumer-protection or law-enforcement authority in your jurisdiction.
Why platforms are part of the problem
Making a fake is only one part of the harm: distribution, paid promotion and scam landing pages turn it into a consumer risk. A CBS News investigation reported finding hundreds of advertisements for “nudify” and related deepfake tools across Meta services, despite platform policies prohibiting non-consensual intimate imagery and sexually explicit content. That reporting concerns harmful tools rather than authorized celebrity advertising, but it illustrates the gap that can arise between rules and enforcement. CBS News’ investigation
Useful enforcement questions include how quickly prohibited ads are removed, whether repeat advertisers are blocked, and how carefully ad buyers and intermediaries are screened. A takedown also cannot ensure that every copy disappears after reposting. Labels may be lost or hard to see in short-form feeds, embedded video and screenshots, while a detector cannot tell whether a specific use was authorized or contractually permitted.
What the law can address—and where it varies
There is no single, universal legal rule that resolves every celebrity deepfake ad. In the United States, the relevant protections may include state right-of-publicity and false-endorsement rules, consumer-protection and fraud law, privacy or intimate-image laws, copyright and trademark claims, and performer agreements or collective-bargaining terms. Which rules apply depends on the conduct and jurisdiction; using copyrighted footage or a brand mark may raise separate issues without necessarily resolving a likeness claim.
California’s governor announced the signing of 2024 measures addressing synthetic media, including protections concerning performers’ voices and likenesses and rules for political deepfakes. The announcement is not a substitute for checking the current statutory text, scope and effective dates. California governor’s announcement
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A 2025 Senate hearing addressed misuse of celebrity likenesses, scams, explicit deepfakes and the proposed NO FAKES Act. A hearing record documents the policy debate; it does not establish that every proposal discussed became law. Congressional hearing record
A practical standard for an authorized campaign
For a brand or agency, a credible process should make authorization, disclosure and control verifiable—not merely assert that a likeness is “AI-powered.” Before release, ask:
- Can the campaign point to documented permission from the person or authorized rights holder?
- Does that permission cover the actual output, product, territory, language, media and duration?
- Are scripts, translations and material edits subject to the agreed approval process?
- Is the synthetic performance disclosed clearly enough for viewers to understand what they are seeing?
- Can the production team show which model access and final outputs were authorized?
- Are product claims independently supportable, particularly for financial, medical or other consequential offers?
- Does the agreement address compensation, security, expiration and removal of the asset?
Authorization does not settle every ethical concern. A licensed avatar can still obscure whether the celebrity personally made a statement, displace work by performers or translators, or be used in a context audiences consider objectionable. Technical detection may help identify manipulation, but it cannot answer questions of consent, contract scope or truthfulness on its own.
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