Research led by Dr. Rita Ngoc To and Dr. Yi-Chia Wu has been recognized for a paper examining how consumers perceive luxury brands as inauthentic and low effort when they use AI-generated advertisements generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The paper also discusses how this negative response can be reversed when AI is used creatively rather than through standard designs.
Titled “When AI Doesn’t Sell Prada: Why Using AI‑Generated Advertisements Backfires for Luxury Brands”, the paper was co-written by Dr. Rita Ngoc To, Dr. Yi-Chia Wu, Parichehr Kianian and Zhe Zhang. The paper has received the 2025 Journal of Advertising Research Best Paper Runner‑Up Award and an Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) ranking of “A”.
This research was funded by the President’s Excellence in Research Scholars (PERS) grant. The support from Tarleton State University’s Division of Research, Innovation and Economic Development made this recognition possible.
To learn more about the award announcement, please visit