Polaroid has made an enemy and is putting it right next to the Apple Store.
Hey Brand fan,
Polaroid deliberately hangs its posters right next to Apple Stores and Google offices. They read: "AI can't generate sand between your toes." Right in the heart of the tech district, where everyone is walking around with their heads buried in their feeds anyway.
This is by far the most confident branding I've come across so far this year. And it's due to a move that hardly any brand dares to make: Polaroid is actively seeking out an adversary—a clear brand positioning that goes against the mainstream.
A brief look back...
The campaign is called “The Camera for an Analog Life” and launched in July 2025 alongside the new Polaroid Flip. It was developed entirely in-house by their own creative studio (that alone has me stoked). Out-of-home ads were placed in New York and London, at JFK, in city centers, and specifically in front of the temples of the tech world.
This June, they did it again. "The Best of Summer Is Analog," this time for the Go Generation 3. A billboard right on Coney Island Beach: "Go jump in some water before the data centers drink it all up."
Fun fact, because this line is so wickedly spot-on: According to a study by UC Riverside (2023), training GPT-3 consumed about 5.4 million liters of water. Polaroid takes the whole cumbersome data center debate and turns it into a phrase you’ll understand right away on the beach.
Now, my most important point
The reason this resonates so strongly has little to do with the anti-AI hype. It resonates because Polaroid is reaching exactly the people who are already in the right frame of mind: those who have just rediscovered analog film and are slowly growing tired of AI. For them, “AI can’t generate sand between your toes” isn’t just a brand slogan. It’s their own feeling captured on a poster.
And Polaroid IS ALLOWED to say that because the product itself says it. An instant camera is analog, tactile, imperfect. The brand sells exactly what it says on the box.
Zero-point-zero gap between words and reality.
That's exactly where good marketing differs from cheap, provocative marketing.
My 2 cents:
Taking a stand against something makes your brand stand out. But only if your product or process truly addresses that opposing position.
If you slap "human-made" or "anti-AI" on your brand while everything’s running through a generator in the background, people will see right through it in two seconds. Then it’s just posturing, and posturing is bullsh!t.
The great thing is: Polaroid doesn’t go around shouting, “AI is evil.” Their Creative Director, Patricia Varella, says herself that they aren’t anti-digital—they’re pro-human—and they know they have to live with technology. They stand for something and let the contrast do the work. It works creatively, too—without any ragebait.
Because this topic hits close to home for me in two ways. I shoot with a Leica myself—real photos, not generated ones—and for me, that difference isn’t just a retro gimmick; it’s truly fundamental.
For your brand, this means, specifically:
Stop wondering how you can please everyone. Ask yourself what sets you apart. What is it that everyone else in your industry does the same way, but you choose to do differently? That’s your billboard next to the Apple Store.
Then comes the reality check: Does your product live up to the message? If so, go for it. If not, fix the product first, then the poster. In that order.
And don't worry—you don't necessarily have to choose AI as your final boss. The cause you stand for can be small. It just has to be genuine.
Polaroid is selling a technology from the '70s in the age of AI and turning it into the hottest item in the store window.
Stay bullish 🔥
Chantalle
P.S. If you can't explain what your brand stands for in a single sentence, that's exactly the kind of question we love to break down here at the studio. Just send us a message. ✉️ chantalle@boredbrands.studio
