Toys “R” Us faced significant backlash following the release of its latest advertisement, which was entirely created using OpenAI’s generative video artificial intelligence tool, Sora.
The ad portrays the American toy retailer’s founder, Charles Lazarus, as a child envisioning the creation of Toys “R” Us and its iconic mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe. Produced by the company’s in-house studio and creative agency Native Foreign, the ad was touted by Toys “R” Us in a statement as pioneering for being the first major advertisement generated solely by OpenAI’s text-to-video technology.
“Toys “R” Us chief marketing officer Kim Miller Olko highlighted, “Charles Lazarus was a visionary ahead of his time, and we wanted to honor his legacy with a spot using the most cutting-edge technology available.”
However, the ad sparked criticism from artists and filmmakers, including Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo, who bluntly remarked, “It fucking sucks.”
TOYS ‘R US released an AI commercial and it fucking sucks. pic.twitter.com/K1JcGhHKeA
— Joe Russo (@joerussotweets) June 25, 2024
Others lashed the ad from a technical standpoint for its lack of visual continuity, including noticeable changes in the character’s bodily features and clothing throughout the 66-second clip.
“Just like a weird dream it is a different person each time you see them,” one X user wrote.
Source: syndrowm
“The approach is flawed. It’s baffling why these marketing people thought this was a good representation of their product’s essence,” commented Robin Schmidt, CEO of metaverse multimedia firm BasedAF.
Critics also targeted the perceived energy costs of AI-generated content compared to traditional filming for promotional materials.
“No aspect of this looks superior to conventional tools, yet it consumes ten times more energy to produce,” remarked former Ubisoft concept artist RJ Palmer on X platform.
“Moreover, you can still observe instances where figures were clumsily pieced together from disparate sources in an attempt to form a cohesive whole,” they added. “Fundamentally, there is no advantage to this approach.”
OpenAI introduced its text-to-video model, Sora, on February 15, initially impressing users on social media with its capabilities.
However, since its debut, limitations of the model have surfaced, including its inability to consistently generate footage without noticeable “uncanny” variations in subjects, as seen in occasional glimpses of generated content that reach mainstream attention.
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