Is brand reputation getting even harder to manage?

06 Oct 2025

There was a WSJ article last week on AI bot networks that aim to disrupt brands.

“What’s different now is how quickly AI-powered bots can spin up ‘grassroots-looking’ campaigns around incendiary or divisive issues, e.g., culture-war topics, and keep them trending”.

What is a real campaign and what isn’t? It’s becoming more and more of a PR nightmare for the brands (and the people) involved.

Look at the rebrand of Cracker Barrel “Bots authored 44.5% of X posts mentioning Cracker Barrel in the 24 hours”. At one point there was 400 Cracker Barrel posts a minute about the boycott.

I think marketing teams, agencies, platforms and policy makers have a key role in shaping how this is managed…

Do we need a kind of industry standard fact checking system? I don’t think relying on the platforms will be enough.

Will lo-fi or GenAI led campaigns signal scepticism and low trust in that brand? I feel premium, human-led and expensive placements will hold even more weight as a sign of brand strength & trust.

But... how will this work for smaller brands that don't have the budget to play? It is more then about execution, aesthetic and taste that pull them apart...