Social Rocket
Dollar Shave Club is relying on real actors in its new advertising campaign and uses generative AI only for individual visual exaggerations. "Perfectly Good Is Perfect" launched on 20 October 2026 and is set to run across connected TV, YouTube, Meta and TikTok. The approach is interesting for marketing teams because the brand separates creative work, AI use and brand standards – rather than trying to automate the entire production.
What the AI actually does
In the campaign film, the brand pushes back against the pressure to buy what seems like the perfect grooming product. According to brand manager Laura Higgins, the actors and the shoot are real; AI was used, among other things, for a deliberately absurd six-finger gag. Marketing Dive reports this in a conversation with the company.
The idea originated internally. Production with the partner Humanaut reportedly took around two and a half months. However, no percentage time saving can be derived from this: there is no documented comparison with an equivalent campaign without AI. Nor were the production budget, sales, new customers or incremental revenue published.
Why the brand does not show real application scenes synthetically
Higgins describes a practical limit: AI images are suited to short absurd punchlines, but in the team's view they have so far been less suitable for convincingly depicting the actual shaving. For that reason, the brand separates stylised effects from images that illustrate a product promise. For advertisers this is an important control line: an obviously fictional punchline is something different from an artificial demonstration that suggests the product's performance and result.
The campaign is meant to stay consistent across several channels using reusable templates and a brand manual. This problem also confronts marketing departments beyond the shaving sector: in the Dentsu CMO study 2026, many decision-makers doubt that AI already reliably hits the brand style. Our overview of AI content and quality control shows why a review process cannot be replaced by prompt variants.
For social ads, disclosure matters too
Alongside the creative workflow, the case touches on a specific platform rule. According to its Advertising Policy on AI-edited content, TikTok requires a label when images, videos or audio have been substantially AI-generated or altered. Minor corrections such as exposure adjustments are assessed differently. The TikTok help page on ad disclosures names a dedicated notice for corresponding ads. Whether Dollar Shave Club labelled its specific placements accordingly cannot be verified from the accessible sources.
The brand message must also be accurate regardless of the tool used. Platforms check for misleading product effects, not just the origin of the pixels. When running ads via Meta, the current creative and liability changes in Ads Manager are also relevant. Teams should therefore document the AI share, approve product depictions factually and check the applicable labelling options for each platform.
Assessment: The campaign is no proof that AI advertises more cheaply or more effectively. It shows a narrower, verifiable field of use: individual design effects within a brand production led by people. For evaluation, measurement, approvals and costs for AI-supported campaigns still count.
Sources: Marketing Dive, 20.10.2026; TikTok, policy on AI and edited advertising content, April 2026; TikTok, ad disclosures.
Illustrative image: David Trinks / Unsplash. The photo does not show a Dollar Shave Club campaign.