J. Crew published Instagram images styled as vintage Americana featuring presumed human men modeling clothing. Close inspection revealed multiple AI-generation defects, including misaligned stripes, a foot facing backwards, and hands blending into bicycle handlebars. After the errors were exposed, the company updated Instagram captions to name 'AI Sam' Finn as an 'AI photographer' and described the images as 'digital art' without explicitly admitting AI use or clarifying whether the models are real. The posts generated significant anger in comments, with many customers questioning model authenticity and whether the clothing shown reflects real products.
After Blackbird Spylane's reporting unmasked the slop, the company updated its Instagram captions to include a callout to someone named Sam "AI Sam" Finn, who refers to themselves as an "AI photographer." Still, J. Crew didn't actually cop to the use of AI in the caption; instead, they referred to the campaign images as "digital art." The captions also don't acknowledge whether the depicted models are real people or not.
As The Cut pointed out, there were a large number of folks in the comments section who expressed annoyance and anger at the images. Which makes sense! Unbeknownst to J. Crew, it seems, a lot of people do care whether the humans used in the advertisements designed to sell them clothes exist - and, to that end, whether the actual items J. Crew is actively trying to sell them are shown in their real form, or are a hyperreal, AI-generated version.
The images, which were published to Instagram earlier this month, don't raise immediate alarm bells. Presumed human men are pictured embodying J. Crew's vintage Americana-prep aesthetic: vibing on boats, cycling past storefronts in muted colors, drawing and painting in their paint-splattered studio, and so on. But as style blog Blackbird Spyplane first spotted, upon closer inspection the images are absolutely littered with signs of AI slop.
Collection
[
|
...
]