Is your brand caught in the AI slop? Consumers are taking notice

The rapid rise of AI-generated content is creating a new brand safety challenge for marketers, with almost half of Singapore consumers saying they would think less of a brand whose ads appear alongside low-quality AI-generated content.

According to DoubleVerify's "2026 global insights: Media quality in the age of AI" report for Asia Pacific, 49% of consumers in Singapore said their perception of a brand would be negatively affected if its advertising appeared next to low-quality or spam-like AI-generated content. By comparison, only 23% said they would respond positively.

The findings come as AI-generated content becomes increasingly prevalent across digital platforms, prompting brands to balance the efficiency of AI with concerns around quality, trust and brand suitability.

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The report found similar sentiment across Southeast Asia, where 42% of consumers said they would react negatively to brands advertising alongside poor-quality AI content.

The quality of AI-generated advertising itself also emerged as a key consideration. Across Southeast Asia, 41% of consumers said they would view a brand negatively if it used AI to create ads that appeared low quality, uncanny or unnatural.

Singapore consumers were even more critical. Some 47% said low-quality AI-generated advertising would negatively affect their perception of a brand, while only 25% viewed it positively.

By contrast, polished AI-generated advertising was received more favourably. Just 18% of Singapore respondents said professionally produced AI-generated ads would negatively affect their perception of a brand, while 45% said it would have a positive impact. The findings suggest consumers are not inherently opposed to AI-generated marketing, but are instead judging brands based on the quality of execution.

That caution is also reflected among marketers. Across Asia Pacific, 61% said they were somewhat or very concerned about serving ads alongside low-quality generative AI content, exceeding the global average of 53%.

Nearly half (48%) also expressed concern about using AI to generate advertising copy and creative assets, highlighting ongoing questions around maintaining brand quality as generative AI becomes more widely adopted.

At the same time, AI platforms are emerging as a new advertising channel. More than half (51%) of Asia Pacific marketers said they were concerned about advertising within AI-powered chat platforms, citing creative control, brand suitability safeguards, reliable performance measurement and data privacy as the key assurances they would need before investing.

Consumers, however, appeared more open to the idea than marketers. In Singapore, 49% said they felt positively about advertising within AI platforms, compared with 19% who felt negatively.

Across Asia Pacific, relevance proved to be the deciding factor. When ads were closely related to the conversation taking place within an AI chat, 42% of consumers said it would positively influence their perception of the advertised brand, while only 14% said it would have a negative impact.

Beyond attitudes towards AI, the report also found improvements in media quality across the region. Fraud and sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) violation rates fell year-on-year, with Asia Pacific outperforming the global benchmark. India recorded the region's largest improvement, followed by Japan and Singapore.

Despite the progress, new AI-related challenges continue to emerge. The report found that AI bots generated 15% of clicks in unprotected campaigns, with some campaigns recording AI bots generating up to 10 times more clicks than humans. While not all bot traffic is fraudulent, the company said it can distort campaign performance and should be filtered from measurement.

Separately, the report found Asia Pacific remained the most challenging region globally for brand suitability violations, despite modest year-on-year improvements. It also identified travel as the content category containing the highest volume of low-quality AI-generated content, ahead of technology, sports and shopping.

According to the report, Asia Pacific consumers are also becoming increasingly comfortable using AI in their daily lives. The region recorded the highest frequency of AI tool usage globally, although adoption varied significantly between markets, with India reporting the highest usage rates and Japan the lowest.

“The advent of AI is creating new opportunities for advertisers to engage APAC audiences,” said Conrad Tallariti, managing director, APAC, DoubleVerify. “However, there are new concerns such as the ability to measure the quality of AI chat ads and challenges such as AI slop that is not just a threat to media quality but to brand equity as well”.

The findings come as brands continue to navigate growing consumer expectations around transparency in AI. Earlier this year, a YouGov and Meltwater study found that 84% of Singaporeans believe AI-generated content should be clearly labelled, while nearly half (49%) said their trust in a brand would decline if its use of AI was not disclosed.

Although 55% of respondents said they were excited about AI's future, 83% also expressed concern about its increasing role in everyday life, highlighting the delicate balance brands must strike as they adopt the technology.

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