TV presenter used in ad campaign after fake AI voice gave permission

By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2024

Scammers used AI-generated voice notes to do a deal with a company for popular media personality to endorse its product.

A company that manufactures and markets a brand of insect repellent has been left embarrassed, and out of pocket, after it launched an ad campaign featuring a well-known BBC television presenter.  

 

It turned out to be scam enabled by an AI voice purporting to be that of the presenter, Liz Bonnin, who specialises in science and wildlife programmes. 

 

The brand, Incognito, had previously tried to use Bonnin to front its ad campaigns, but no agreement was ever reached. 

 

Then, out of the blue, the CEO of UK-based Incognito, Howard Carter, received a series of voice notes purporting to be from Bonnin. She wanted to do the campaign and an agreement was reached that the deal would be done directly with her, rather than through her management agency. 

BBC TV presenter Liz Bonnin. Photo: Andrew Crowley, Wikipedia

 

An amount of £20,000 (US$25,000) was paid over, and a few days later Incognito received a photo of Bonnin and sound bites to use in the company’s advertising messaging. 

 

Ad campaign started to unravel 

 

But when the campaign went live, things started to unravel. Bonnin said on X (formerly Twitter) that she did not agree to any endorsement with the company. Incognito realised they had been scammed and withdrew the campaign. 

 

Said Bonnin in a comment to The Guardian newspaper: “I’m very sorry for what the company has gone through. It’s not fun for them at all, but it’s a violation on both our parts.” 

 

Two AI experts who assessed one of the voice notes for The Guardian agreed it was likely to have been artificially generated.  

 

“There are gaps and recitation speed issues that are consistent with AI-generated speech. The dialogue is inconsistent in accent,” said Surya Koppisetti, an applied scientist. 

 

Michael Keeling, a data scientist, said the “steady, monotone” artificial background noise in the message “is a classic way of making something seem more realistic”. “If you’re listening to this from your phone on a busy street, it’s much easier to slip through that way,” he added. 

 

A spokesperson for Bonnin told Deadline, an entertainment industry publication: “It is an extremely worrying trend for everyone in the creative industries.” 

 

“Reputations are built on trust and we follow strict rules about endorsements to preserve our clients’ professional credibility. But this technology is progressing so fast, lawmakers and regulators can’t keep pace and social media platforms are far too slow to remove harmful content.” 

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