Retailers urge EU to exempt AI ads from transparency rules

Retailers across Europe are pressing the European Union to loosen how it treats AI-made advertising, arguing that not every polished product image should carry the same warning as a deepfake. EuroCommerce, whose members include Amazon, H&M, Inditex and Ikea, sent a June 18 letter to EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen asking for AI-generated advertisements that are not intended to mislead users to be exempt from the bloc’s transparency rules.

The timing is tight. The European Commission published its final Code of Practice on marking and labelling AI-generated content on June 10, and the transparency obligations tied to the AI Act start applying on August 2. Under Article 50, providers of AI systems that generate synthetic audio, image, video or text content must make outputs machine-readable and detectable as artificially generated or manipulated. The Commission also says deepfakes and AI-generated or AI-manipulated text on matters of public interest must be clearly labeled, and users must be told when they are interacting with an interactive AI system such as a chatbot.

EuroCommerce’s core complaint is that if retailers have to label every AI-assisted image, the warning itself could lose value. In its letter, the group said: “We would like to share our concerns regarding the upcoming guidelines on the implementation of the transparency obligations under Article 50 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act).” Its position is that a sofa shown in a living room setting, or a product visual improved for presentation, should not automatically be treated like deceptive synthetic media.

The Commission says the point of the transparency rules is to reduce the risk of deception and manipulation, but retailers are already testing how far AI can go in merchandising and marketing. Zalando has said AI has sharply cut content-production costs, while H&M and Zara are using AI-generated model clones. That gives the industry an incentive to automate faster, even as Brussels pushes for clearer disclosure around what shoppers are actually seeing.

For Big Lots employees, the fight in Europe is a reminder that retail marketing is becoming a compliance issue as much as a creative one. If Big Lots or any other chain uses AI to build product imagery, social posts or promotional creative, the pressure will be on to keep disclosures precise enough to protect trust without turning every image into a warning label.