NB Liquor’s AI ad has local creative industry calling it ‘lazy’ and ‘an insult’

A couple dressed in festive sweaters bearing a bottle of wine and a six-pack of Stella Artois beer ring the doorbell and turn to each other, laughing joyously.

A young woman holding a bottle of red wine adjusts her scarf and waves into the camera.

A bearded young man in a flannel jacket and hoodie looks sheepishly down at his bottle of Jameson Black Label and grins widely before entering the home.

All the while, Christmas lights twinkle on the porch, which is set against a snowy Canadian street.

The Alcool NB Liquor ad — complete with holiday music and a chipper voiceover — encourages New Brunswickers to stop by the Crown corporation to pick up a gift for “extra holiday cheer.”

The people, the porch, and the booze they’re clutching are all AI-generated.

“Contracts come and go, I would say. It’s (one thing) to lose a contract to someone that’s better than you, but it’s something else to lose a contract to AI,” said filmmaker Pierre-Luc Arseneau.

Arseneau was a freelance cinematographer who worked on last year’s NB Liquor Christmas ad, which involved about 20 people working together over two days.

He said he felt “sad” when he saw this year’s commercial on social media and that while he expects private industry to use AI to cut costs, it’s surprising from an arm of the government.

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“I think this ad in particular really hit us hard because we saw that all the hard work that we put in last year for the ad that we made was just replaced by this AI ad,” he said.

Robert Gray, a film and creative professor at the University of New Brunswick who also co-owns a local production company, said he immediately felt “angry” when he saw the ad.

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“It’s lazy, it’s unimaginative, and I think it’s an insult to creatives in New Brunswick,” he said.

Gray went on to call it a “lost opportunity” because he believes the Crown corporation had the chance to highlight local talent in its advertising campaign.

“The world stage knows what talent we have when it comes to acting, when it comes to film, when it comes to video. (It’s disappointing) to see an arm of the government not recognizing the talent we have,” he added.

“What an opportunity to actually see New Brunswickers in a New Brunswick ad for a New Brunswick business. Like, that’s just such an opportunity there.”

Gray posted his own tongue-in-cheek response to NB Liquor’s ad on social media — with a couple expletives thrown in — as a message to the provincial Crown corporation.

“Take down the AI bullsh– or we’re going to party in Nova Scotia instead,” he says in the video while holding a liquor bottle at the front door of a home.

A spokesperson from Alcool NB Liquor told Global News that they work with a number of agencies, which use a “variety of AI tools as part of their process.”

“Throughout the year, we do various campaigns and in case of smaller campaigns, like this one, we looked at opportunities to be more efficient and manage costs by using animation or AI,” wrote spokesperson Florence Gouton in an email.

“AI didn’t replace our team or our creative direction — our concept, story and standards still guided the entire process.”

Gouton went on to say that this method allows them to “experiment with a different technique.”

Minister says he’s asked for ad to be paused

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In an interview Wednesday afternoon, Luke Randall, the minister responsible for NB Liquor and Cannabis NB, said he asked NB Liquor on Tuesday to “pause” the use of the video as a paid advertisement. The video can still be viewed on social media.

“So that we could just have a conversation about AI usage, how we are keeping in mind local, how we’re keeping in mind local production companies and local artists. And I just wanted to be able to have that fulsome conversation,” he said.

Randall said that NB Liquor uses agencies to produce all their marketing in collaboration with their own marketing team. He added that they “generally” use the Government of New Brunswick procurement list for this purpose.

In terms of using local talent, he said it’s an important part of the province’s messaging to support local.

“Ultimately, this is an operational issue. So it will be up to the board to make the decision as to whether this ad aligns with their mandate,” he said.

“I wanted to have that conversation so that we could get alignment between government and this Crown Corporation, so that we could have that conversation around the status of the artist, the importance of using New Brunswick artists.”

AI in advertising

Arseneau said he and others in the film and advertising industry are constantly feeling the pressure to use AI.

“Some of us are completely pushing it away. Some of us are accepting it. Personally, I’ve been pushing it away. I don’t want to use it at all,” said Arseneau.

“I really don’t want my job to become just writing prompts to make videos happen or even make things go faster.”

He said if there’s a silver lining in this NB Liquor campaign, it’s that “the AI ad that they generated did not look great,” so it was easily distinguishable.

This led to online backlash and a greater conversation on artists and local talent.

“In terms of the future of my personal career, I can just stand up for what I believe is right and what I want to do. I know that I’m not going to start using AI because I don’t want to be writing prompts all day to create videos,” he said.