Japanese tea commercial actress created by AI, is it the scandal-free future • Hacker News Board

Re: Japanese tea commercial actress created by AI, is it the scandal-free future

#41

Post by OfSanguineFire » Wed, Oct 18, 2023, 6:35 PM UTC

Johnny555 wrote: post #17

wccrawford wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, "person I've never seen before" doesn't give any clout to the product. Why would I care if that person drinks it? Other than the appearance that it took like 30 years off her hair and skin, that is.

Does a celebrity provide any real clout to a product? Just because you see Joe Celebrity using a product in a commercial, all that really means is that they paid her enough money to say that she uses the product. There have certainly been celebrities outed for not using their endorsed product - for example, when Samsung paid a number of celebrities to endorse their phone, then the celebrities were caught tweeting or…

As one example, Nespresso hired George Clooney as the face of its advertisements after years of him being featured in women’s media as one of the sexiest men around. As sex drives so much of human behavior, do you really think that Clooney’s presence on this brand’s advertisements had no effect on at least some consumers?

Re: Japanese tea commercial actress created by AI, is it the scandal-free future

#42

Post by ronsor » Wed, Oct 18, 2023, 6:36 PM UTC

tremon wrote: post #30

Someone who thinks that "AI" is automatically scandal-free has obviously never heard of Tay.

I'm sure the AI actors will be kept on as tight a leash as the human ones, so Tay-style outbursts should not pose an issue.

Re: Japanese tea commercial actress created by AI, is it the scandal-free future

#43

Post by anigbrowl » Wed, Oct 18, 2023, 6:47 PM UTC

Rietty wrote: post #29

tfigueroa wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to get all “orientalism” but celebrity scandal is a pretty big deal in Japan and South Korea. It can kill a career quite easy, for (by US standards) innocuous things. Smoking pot, spicy selfies, having a significant other - it’s not uncommon. Japan at least is also fairly receptive to artificial spokespeople, like mascots and avatars. Maybe there’s simply higher demand for this, and turning to AI is a good strate…

I understand the first two, but I could never wrap my head around the "having an SO" is a scandal. Why is that?

Because brand celebrities' commercial value is in the parasocial relationship that viewers have with them, allowing people to imagine romantic pairings with a person they see on TV or the internet every day while still being at a psychologically safe distance. If the celebrity has a real life boy/girlfriend, then the romantic fantasy is over and so, probably, the consumer brand attachment.

Re: Japanese tea commercial actress created by AI, is it the scandal-free future

#44

Post by LAC-Tech » Wed, Oct 18, 2023, 6:48 PM UTC

burkaman wrote: post #5

This is such a weird angle for the story. The only "spokesperson scandal" I can think of is the Subway guy, and I don't really think even that enormous scandal hurt Subway very much. I have to believe the reduced effectiveness of a fake spokesperson outweighs the benefit of avoiding a minuscule chance of scandal. Also, fictional spokes"people" like Mr. Peanut or whatever already exist. I don't think I understand why…

The only "spokesperson scandal" I can think of is the Subway guy, and I don't really think even that enormous scandal hurt Subway very much.

It actually hugely increased sales among reddit and discord moderators.

Re: Japanese tea commercial actress created by AI, is it the scandal-free future

#45

Post by SeenNotHeard » Wed, Oct 18, 2023, 6:49 PM UTC

Some of those AI-generated green tea bottles look like motor oil labels.

Re: Japanese tea commercial actress created by AI, is it the scandal-free future

#46

Post by anigbrowl » Wed, Oct 18, 2023, 6:50 PM UTC

ugh123 wrote: post #22

Would this fly in the U.S. with the actor union?

The actors' complaint is tht studios want to scan their real-person appearance once but license it to be animated in perpetuity.

Re: Japanese tea commercial actress created by AI, is it the scandal-free future

#47

Post by anigbrowl » Wed, Oct 18, 2023, 6:53 PM UTC

artninja1988 wrote: post #40

vkou wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the worst choice of all - asking for more money. Imagine how much money Hollywood could have saved by being able to digitize Tom Cruise, Will Smith, or Leonardo DiCaprio early on in their careers, when they were doing acting gigs for beer money - and then simply use the digitized versions in lieu of the real thing after they made it big.

Why would the studios not just use a completely fictional ai character in the first place? That way you only have to pay for someone to model the character etc. I don't see the need for scanning real actors anyway

Uncanny valley

Re: Japanese tea commercial actress created by AI, is it the scandal-free future

#48

Post by TerrifiedMouse » Wed, Oct 18, 2023, 6:54 PM UTC

oh_sigh wrote: post #32

Rietty wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the first two, but I could never wrap my head around the "having an SO" is a scandal. Why is that?

Mostly for boy/girl - band types, where a major draw for people is "he/she is my future husband/wife, if only we could meet once". So having a SO destroys that connection.

> major draw for people is "he/she is my future husband/wife, if only we could meet once"

Even if they are OK with their celebrity getting an SO, they might take issue with who the SO is.

Either way, it’s a loss.

Re: Japanese tea commercial actress created by AI, is it the scandal-free future

#49

Post by wolverine876 » Wed, Oct 18, 2023, 6:57 PM UTC

Delfwood wrote: post #33

burkaman wrote: post #5

This is such a weird angle for the story. The only "spokesperson scandal" I can think of is the Subway guy, and I don't really think even that enormous scandal hurt Subway very much. I have to believe the reduced effectiveness of a fake spokesperson outweighs the benefit of avoiding a minuscule chance of scandal. Also, fictional spokes"people" like Mr. Peanut or whatever already exist. I don't think I understand why…

By Japanese standards, having a boyfriend can be considered a scandal for a spokeswoman* if your fan base is infatuated with her and the realization she has a life alienates them. In this case, a fictional photorealistic woman is a good alternative: she can maintain a "perfect" physical appearance, never change and never have a life. * Or idol, or weather woman (look for Hiyama Saya).

To the degree that's true, an AI creation may be more appropriate than a real person. At least it won't teach people to objectify real human beings.

Re: Japanese tea commercial actress created by AI, is it the scandal-free future

#50

Post by sorokod » Wed, Oct 18, 2023, 6:58 PM UTC

Japanese celebrity endorsement marketing is almost entirely focused on the spokesperson’s image, so when that image becomes sufficiently cracked, it has the potential to take the entire promotional strategy down with it, and it wouldn’t be a shock if the advantage of being able to opt out of all those risks is part of why Ito En is going with an AI model this time.

Such a risky bet, what would it take to compromise an AI model using AI tools? About ten minutes I'd guess.