As AI becomes more embedded in everyday life, a growing number of brands, including Polaroid, are marketing the opposite.

At the center of Polaroid's recent "The best of summer is analog" campaign is a billboard overlooking Coney Island Beach that reads, "Go jump in some water before the data centers drink it all up."

Photo credit: Keith Montero

The New York installation is joined by billboards across New York, London, and South Korea with lines like "You can't bask in blue light" and "Dance like nobody is recording.”

While the campaign references AI, its target is consumers' increasingly always-on relationship with technology.

"It's not a campaign against AI or against data centers," said Patricia Varella, Polaroid's creative director. "Data centers were the perfect metaphor that talks about the scale of this overuse of digital in our lives."

The rise of digital balance

Consumers are reevaluating their relationship with technology from multiple angles.

• Three-quarters of 18- to 24-year-olds and 55% of teens say they want to become more analog this year by taking up offline hobbies, according to YPulse.
• In addition, 44% of US adults oppose the construction of new AI data centers, found Ipsos.

"It’s about rebalancing,” said our analyst Suzy Davidkhanian on a recent “Behind the Numbers” episode. “I think everybody is just so acutely aware of this constantly 'being on' world and that it's not good for them for many reasons."

This creates an opening for brands like Polaroid, which position disconnection as aspirational rather than inconvenient.

“The faster [brands] jump on acknowledging [consumers’ desire to unplug] and encourage more responsible usage, the faster that they either retain or regain consumer trust,” said our analyst Paola Flores-Marquez on the same episode.

A brand built around being present

"When I joined the company, it wasn't about AI," Varella said. "It was about finding the role for Polaroid today." That role, she said, is "challenging that relationship with technology."

This latest campaign continues Polaroid’s "AI can't generate the sand between your toes" campaign from last year, but shifts the strategy. Whereas last year's billboards appeared outside Apple stores and Google offices, this year's messages appear where Polaroid wants consumers to act.

“The role of an analog brand is to remind people that the analog life is where the most interesting things happen,” said Varella. “This new brand narrative is about trying to inspire people to stay more present and to have physical relationships.”

As generative AI makes images easier to create and manipulate, Polaroid is positioning analog photography as evidence rather than aesthetics.

"An instant image is something you cannot deny happened," Varella said. "The more images generated artificially out there, the more valuable those untouchable images become."