After embracing AI, Cadbury and Ogilvy make Valentine’s Day human again

Cadbury and Ogilvy have captured the spirit of Valentines Day through an anti-AI message. The result could’ve been tenuous, but it's surprisingly effective.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk’s new Valentine’s film from Ogilvy contrasts slick, auto-generated declarations of love with the messier, more vulnerable reality of saying how you feel out loud.

Produced by GOOD MORNING FILMS and directed by Shashanka Chaturvedi, the ad, ‘AI Knows Nothing’ features a narrative that contrasts the real-life experience of love with the autogenerated content from AIs.

The scripting is excellent and captures some of the enduring messiness of falling in love. 

The ad, however, is something of an about-turn by Cadbury’s after last year’s Silk work leaned into using generative tools as a way to personalise love stories.

This year’s effort actively plays up the virtues of human emotion over algorithmic polish. The chocolate bar, a timeless gesture of love, is framed as an honest and classic offering that endures despite the relentless change of the modern age.

Our take

Analogue, awkward, but very human ads have been prized of late, and Cadbury’s effort makes no bones about taking sides - even though (like a fickle ex) it has apparently switched its allegiances in the space of a year.

Still, taken in isolation, the ad is poignant, if a little long, and makes a genuine contribution to the anti-AI creative narrative.

Although very different in content, its themes echo last month’s Hermes campaign, which prized hand-drawn detailing in an age of ‘AI slop’. 

Where do you stand on this evolving AI debate, dear readers? (message tom@creativemoment.co)