The role of the social context of advertising in the perception of AI-generated images among consumers with different decision-making styles

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used to produce advertising images, yet consumer responses depend not only on the use of AI but also on what the image depicts and on the audience; the role of the ad’s social context and of consumer decision-making styles is underexplored. The aim was to examine how the social context of an ad image (a person versus a product only) and its origin (AI-generated versus traditional) relate to ad evaluations among consumers with different decision-making styles. Materials and methods: an online survey of 150 respondents (mostly aged 18–26); styles were measured with the Consumer Style Inventory adapted by O. I. Patosha and N. V. Antonova; four ads of a fictitious chocolate brand (AIgenerated/ real × product/person) were rated on attitude, trust, purchase intention and perceived authenticity (Wilcoxon test, Spearman correlations). Results: product-only ads were rated higher than ads with a person regardless of origin; in the “person” pair the AI image outperformed the photograph on all measures, in the “product” pair the real photo scored higher on trust and authenticity; only 24% recognised the real image with a person. The “brand, novelty and fashion”, “recreational shopping” and “quality-conscious” styles were positively related to product ads, including AI-generated ones; “brand loyalty” – to ads with a person regardless of origin; “impulsiveness” and “price-conscious” – negatively to images with a person. Social context is thus no less important than image origin. The findings can inform targeted advertising with generative AI; experimental and cross-cultural studies are needed.

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