But Lovell warned brands against making connections to events that didn’t involve them.
“If your brand wasn’t part of the moment, don’t try to rewrite history with AI,” he said. “Consumers are getting smarter now. We can detect when a brand is manufacturing relevance rather than earning it.”
Marielle Conlon, 39, founder of Ocean Road Antiques in Pennsylvania, found her own way to join in the excitement of the wedding. On Friday, he posted an AI-generated reel showing his colorful bamboo lacquer furniture being transported to Madison Square Garden on a truck, as if he were one of the vendors working with Swift and Kelce’s production team.
“Since I, like other small businesses, don’t have a large advertising budget, I try to get creative with my marketing,” Conlon wrote in a text message. The tongue-in-cheek post, which garnered more than 10,000 views and 1,500 shares, sparked a mix of reactions: some viewers believed it and others appreciated the joke, though some questioned its authenticity.
“The goal was not to mislead anyone,” Conlon said, adding that the post had been to “mock the Internet’s obsession with celebrity weddings and the increasingly surreal nature of AI-generated content.”
Legal experts say that kind of obvious exaggeration is closer to a harmless marketing tactic than false advertising.
“If the image or statement merely conveys enthusiasm or aspiration, it is most likely an exaggeration, which is an exaggerated or boastful statement of opinion that no reasonable person would rely on as a factual representation,” Andrew B. Jacobs, partner and attorney at Winston Taylor LLP, a global law firm based in New York City, wrote in a text message.
And despite the attention, Conlon said the video’s virality had not translated into sales.
“This was not a wildly profitable marketing stunt,” he said.
