The AI marketing backlash story doesn’t actually fit Southeast Asia

Southeast Asian consumers are not universally rejecting AI-generated marketing, as commonly reported in Western trend decks. While 78% of consumers in the West view AI in ads as a "marketing ploy" and are less likely to trust or buy from such ads, Southeast Asian consumers show a more nuanced response. A study of 400 Gen Z social media users in Da Nang, Vietnam, found that disclosing AI use actually increased trust in these brands, which in turn predicted higher purchase intention. This contrasts with the Western trend where suspected AI use erodes trust.

Additionally, a PLS-SEM study of 387 Indonesian TikTok users found that AI labels raised viewers' awareness of the ad, but only reduced attitude toward hedonic, impulse-type products. This indicates that AI disclosure doesn't lead to a broad rejection across all product categories in Southeast Asia, as seen in the West.

Despite the presence of generative AI in product discovery, online marketplaces still dominate both discovery (71%) and purchase completion (88%) in Southeast Asia. Consumers' decision to buy is still heavily influenced by human trust, with family and friend recommendations being the strongest purchase driver (2.42 out of 4). Trust and credibility of brands, rather than AI itself, remain the key factors driving purchases in the region.

While trust-building effects of AI disclosure are strongest among consumers with a collectivistic orientation in Southeast Asia, the underlying issue is not AI technology but rather deception and content that is engineered to disguise itself as authentic and personal when it is not. This highlights a cultural dimension in Southeast Asia's response to AI-generated advertising, rather than a universal rejection of the technology itself.