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A full-page Skechers ad in the December 2024 issue of Vogue drew criticism after viewers noticed what they described as signs of generative AI: garbled storefront lettering, distorted background figures and inconsistent clothing details. Skechers did not respond to comment requests described in contemporaneous coverage. That silence was not an admission, and the available reporting did not confirm whether AI was used.
What was in the ad?
The ad showed two fashionably dressed women walking through an illustrated city or shopping district. The Skechers shoes being promoted appeared separately near a corner of the composition, rather than clearly on the figures’ feet; observers noted that the women seemed to be wearing heels. That mismatch became part of the criticism: the image was meant to sell footwear, but the product was not naturally integrated into the scene. Fortune and Fast Company described the placement and product-integration complaints.
The dispute surfaced in December 2024. TikTok creator @polishlaurapalmer helped bring it wider attention. She said the artwork initially appealed to her, but closer inspection changed her view. Her observations fueled the suspicion that the image might have been generated, at least in part, with AI. Futurism’s account recounts the video and the reaction.
What looked like AI—and what that does and doesn’t prove
Viewers and design commentators pointed to details they associated with generative-image tools:
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- A scene that seemed plausible at a glance but became less coherent when examined closely.
These are apparent AI-style artifacts, not forensic proof. Malformed text, odd anatomy and awkward compositing can also result from human illustration, rushed retouching, manipulated stock art or compression. And “AI-generated” could describe anything from a fully synthetic scene to a single AI-assisted background element in an otherwise human-made composition. The available coverage did not identify the production workflow, artist, agency, vendor or model involved.
Did Skechers confirm or deny using AI?
No confirmation or denial is established in the contemporaneous reports. Fortune reported that Skechers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Futurism said the company had not responded to Fortune and that it also sought comment. Fast Company likewise reported that Skechers had not answered its question about generative AI.
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That establishes only that those outlets did not receive a response to the requests they described. Silence is not evidence that the allegation is true. The careful summary is: the ad appeared in Vogue, viewers identified details they believed resembled AI artifacts, and the cited coverage did not establish how the artwork was made.
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For critics, the issue was not simply whether a company may use AI. The image raised a more basic advertising question: how did an execution with details viewers found conspicuously wrong make it through review and into print? That concern stands whether the image was made by a generator, a person or a combination of both. A recognizable brand is responsible for what it publishes, and visible defects can make an ad look careless.
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The shoe placement added a separate marketing problem. If the people in a footwear ad do not appear to be wearing the product, the image may fail to connect the fashion story to what the company is selling. Critics also interpreted the suspected AI use as possible corner-cutting at the expense of illustrators, designers, photographers and models. Those were arguments about what the ad seemed to signal—not established facts about Skechers’ budget, production choices or motives.
The online reaction was anecdotal, not a measure of the company’s customers as a whole. The TikTok creator said the ad made her less interested in buying Skechers, while commenters called the work cheap or careless and questioned the footwear mismatch. Those comments show how some viewers responded; they do not establish a broad change in consumer sentiment or sales.
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A broader debate about AI advertising
The Skechers controversy was discussed alongside criticism of other branded AI advertising, including Coca-Cola’s 2024 holiday campaign. The debate is often flattened into “AI or no AI,” but advertising workflows can involve very different uses: a wholly synthetic image, AI-generated backgrounds or props, generative fill, retouching, synthetic faces, or human-created work modified with AI tools. The evidence in this case does not show which, if any, applied.
Those distinctions matter because questions about disclosure, creative labor, copyright, quality control and consumer deception are related but not identical. A company could use AI transparently and still publish poor work; a human-made image could also be careless. The strongest lesson from the ad is practical: whatever tools are used, people need to check text, anatomy, clothing, product depiction and the overall composition before publication.
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What can be concluded
The Skechers ad became a useful example of how a suspected AI image can turn into a brand-reputation story. Observers saw apparent defects and a weak connection between the illustrated scene and the advertised shoes. The company’s nonresponse, as reported at the time, left the production question unresolved. Without confirmation from Skechers or another source directly involved in making the ad, it should be described as an ad accused of using AI—not as a confirmed AI-generated campaign.
Creative Bloq’s coverage also placed the allegations in the wider design debate over AI-generated advertising.
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