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AI grifters are creating fake Black people to sell Shein junk (www.theverge.com)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/fuck_ai@lemmy.world
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Can race, guilt, and empathy get you to pay $40 for this $9 belt buckle on TikTok?

No paywall: https://archive.is/nxp3m (or use noscript)

They're doing a/b tests on the headline.

Sometimes the article is "AI avatars in digital blackface want to sell you this belt buckle", sometimes is "AI grifters are creating fake Black people to sell Shein junk"

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[+] -9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (6 children)

Its an ad. That's how they work. They discredit competitors, directly or indirectly, all the time, in all kinds of ways. This is no different from putting an actor in a white doctor's coat with a stethoscope, or a fake influencer/streamer with a gaming chair and microphone in their face, to build false crediblity. Lots of companies use subsidiaries and branding to appear to be small businesses instead of a major conglomerate corporation.

They literally just need to put tiny white text on the bottom that discloses it is an ad for Shein and not a real person, the way other advertisements do, and then this whole thing would be a total non-issue.

"digital blackface" doesn't seem to be a problem when McDonalds or the NFL or alcohol companies or car companies or drug companies or anyone else does it.

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  • [–] 9 points 5 months ago (4 children)

    We get it. You don't like black people, and don't see their problems seriously. Just say that and be done. 🙄

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago (1 child)

    Even in the article they talk about it going further than fake black businesses. It's really just a new form of deceitful advertising. You've already got businesses using black actors and supposedly AA vernacular to sell food or prodcuts or even those horrible betting platforms

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    Even in the article they talk about it going further than fake black businesses. It’s really just a new form of deceitful advertising. You’ve already got businesses using black actors and supposedly AA vernacular to sell food or prodcuts or even those horrible betting platforms

    What's funny about the whole thing is, for most regular popular advertising for larger companies, the ads wouldn't look anything like these. Even if it had a black person, a poc, a white person, or a mix, the tone would be WAY different for those ads. It's a super conscious exploitative choice.

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  • [+] -6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

    Calling me racist for factually pointing out how this is objectively the same as any other advertisement:

    • is projection
    • does not help your argument or convince anyone that you're right
    • is just as much of a deceptive appeal to emotions by using racial issues as these advertisements are, which is pretty hypocritical

    Looks like I'm the only one of the two of us who is actually taking these issues seriously and willing to have a serious conversation about them. I'll continue to do so, despite your baseless accusation that is designed to silence. Nothing I have said can be construed as "not liking black people".

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