DJI recently posted an AI-generated ad on its TikTok channel. The company pulled the video soon after, following an angry response from the creators who use its products.
What was the ad?
DJI posted the spot for its new Mic Mini. Followers quickly noticed the presenter wasn’t a real person. DJI had used generative AI to make the video and labeled it as AI, but many viewers felt the result was realistic enough to fool someone scrolling past. Creators also caught a giveaway. Reddit user risbia wrote, “It even mangled their own logo on the lapel mic.”
Angry response
Creators didn’t wait long to vent. One Reddit thread ran under the header “This DJI Ad was AI generated.. seriously??” Commenter Top-Manufacturer5872 asked why a multibillion-dollar camera company would generate its own ads instead of hiring the creators its business depends on. “What a disappointment,” they wrote.
Inexcusable
“How hard is it for companies to get some influencer to read a script,” Ruepic asked. No-Guarantee-9647 went further, saying the ad made them not want to buy from a company that lazy. The overriding feeling was that DJI had let down its user base. From d4cloo: “For a camera company this is inexcusable.”
What has DJI said?
DJI pulled the ad from TikTok in response to the backlash. In a statement to PetaPixel, the company said it continues to explore emerging technologies and creative formats as part of its marketing, but that the ad shouldn’t be read as a broader shift in strategy. Creators and filmmakers remain central to DJI’s identity, the statement said, and the company remains focused on collaborating with them.
What we think
DJI misjudged the mood of its customers here. This is a company that makes its money from consumers and indie creators. It’s hard to understand how nobody in the room saw the backlash coming.
The distorted logo makes it worse. If you’re going to run AI-generated footage of your own product, someone should at least check that the branding survived the render.
AI ads are commonplace in China, so this may have been a marketing team misreading the global audience. Either way, DJI has work to do with the creator community.
