Retailer Toys 'R' Us is receiving backlash from netizens online after posting an AI-generated ad in collaboration with OpenAI's Sora.
Touted as the "first-ever brand film using OpenAI’s new text-to-video tool, Sora," the one-minute commercial used the tool to create the animated visuals and condense the shots, bringing them down from a hundred to roughly a dozen.
While its visuals were powered by AI, the original score was made by American producer Aaron Marsh.
Not long after the retail giant posted the video online, creators began calling out Toys 'R' Us for its decision to use the technology and criticizing the visuals Sora had created.
press release for that weird Toys R Us commercial says it was "executive produced" by their chief of global marketing and "directed" by a guy who runs an AI company.
— ally (@missmayn) June 25, 2024
this is AI in a nutshell. uncreative people giving themselves creative titles without actually making anything.
"Looks incredibly lifeless and empty," one user wrote.
@AlsikkanTV also put in his two cents on an X post, "this toys r us commercial is made entirely with AI which means the kid is disgusting and ghoulish, the sentiment hollow, and the toys r us brand is dead for at least the third time."
Others brought up the company's previous bankruptcy, claiming they should have stayed bankrupt for releasing the video.
As a response, the toy retailer already turned off the comments on its Instagram post of the AI commercial.
If you want to better understand AI and how it works, check out this article.
Toys 'R' Us Origin Film
The controversial advert kicks off with the narrator asking the audience if they ever wondered how Toys 'R' Us came to be.
Viewers are then introduced to the son of a bike shop owner, Charles Lazarus, who had a vision that would change toy stores forever.
An AI-animated version of the young innovator falls asleep as his toy giraffe comes to life.
Toys "R" Us has released the first OpenAI SORA generated brand commercial
— Allen T. (@Mr_AllenT) June 25, 2024
The use of generative AI in commercial work is here. pic.twitter.com/rfbHC3NQRD
Upon waking up, he soars through a sky of toys before meeting the company’s iconic mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe.
The end of the spot sees Geoffrey handling Charles a red toy car, before a polaroid image of the actual Charles Lazarus is revealed to viewers.
The company’s latest marketing efforts come after it filed for bankruptcy last 2017 and 2018, affecting branches in the U.S., U.K., and Australia.
It eventually closed all its stores in the U.S. in 2021 but launched new branches in nine states the following year, with a second flagship store opening its doors just in time for Thanksgiving 2023.
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Editing by Katherine 'Makkie' Maclang
