Senator Marsha Blackburn’s campaign wanted a viral moment, and they got one, just not the kind they were hoping for. Her team posted an AI-generated video of her performing as Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show, complete with Tennessee politicians Kane, Tim Burchett, Bill Hagerty, and Brent Taylor, captioned“Tomorrow. Ready to roll.”X users were not impressed, flooding the replies with reactions like“painfully cringe”and“AI slop.”
The backlash got personal when one commenter wrote,“You found a way to make artificial intelligence look stupid.”Then her Democratic opponent, Jerri Green, jumped in with her own response:“When I say please stop using AI to support our campaign, this is what I mean.”It’s the kind of pile-on that turns a campaign stunt into a full-blown meme, and the internet doesn’t let those go easily.
Here’s the part that makes it sting less for Blackburn: she still holds a strong polling lead over Green in the Tennessee governor race. So the video probably won’t cost her votes, but it will absolutely live in the replies forever. The lesson here? AI can make just about anything, but it can’t make a campaign ad land if the idea is a little too out there.
What’s the wildest AI campaign moment you’ve seen so far? Drop it in the comments.
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Local Lawton
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