October 22, 2026
Ketut Subiyanto/Pexels.com
Swedesboro Brewing Co., which has three locations in South Jersey, debuted an AI-generated spokesperson on Instagram earlier this month. Comments left on the company's posts featuring the character have been mostly negative. Above, a stock photo of people drinking beer.
Swedesboro Brewing Co., the South Jersey craft beer maker best-known for its IPAs and wheat beers, introduced an artificial intelligence-generated spokesperson this month to help promote new releases and special events.
Humans who drink the company's beer don't seem to be amused by the experiment.
The brewery, founded in 2020, has a flagship location in Swedesboro and taprooms in Collingswood and Burlington City. The company quickly drew acclaim after opening during the COVID-19 pandemic. It landed on USA Today's 10Best new breweries list within two years, and at a time when much of the industry has been contracting, the brewery expanded in South Jersey by taking over the former Devil's Creek Brewing space and acquiring Third State Brewing.
In an Instagram post on Oct. 15, Swedesboro Brewing Co. shared a realistic video of a smiley blond woman talking about her new role at the company.
"Hey everyone, I'm Sarah, Swedesboro Brewing's new virtual brand ambassador. Yup, I'm AI, not real," she says. "But hey, if a computer-generated emu can outperform a talking gecko and sell insurance, why can't I talk beer?"
The brewery explained its reasoning for creating Sarah in a caption on the post.
"How is having a virtual spokesperson any different from hiring a paid actress, like the famous Coors Light Twins? Sarah just happens to be created, not hired!" the brewery said. "She's got personality, a sense of humor, and plenty to say about our beers, events, and everything happening at our three locations."
Dozens of commenters reacted to the post with disgust and disappointment.
"This sucks extraordinarily hard," one person wrote.
"This makes me want to drink your exceptionally average beer even less," another commenter wrote.
"AI is not a good look for a local craft brewing company," another said.
Several commenters critiqued the oddness of Sarah's gestures, while others said they would much prefer to see real brewery employees promote the company's beer. Swedesboro Brewing's mascot is a raccoon, which makes the choice of a generic young woman for an AI ambassador doubly strange.
On Wednesday, after nearly a week of online backlash, the brewery posted a second video that shows Sarah seated in front of a brick wall in the familiar style of the "Mean Tweets" videos that originated as a segment on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" A graphic on the AI-generated video says "Mean Comments" as Sarah reads from her phone.
"OK, let's see what people think of me," she says. "Oh, my gosh! Can I even read this one out loud?"
The video cuts to Sarah at one of the brewery's locations, where she's been prompted to defend her existence.
"Guess what? Real, local, talented people created me," she says. "Nobody lost their job. Without those employees, I wouldn't even exist."
Commenters responded even more harshly to the second video, including many who said they plan to stop drinking Swedesboro Brewing's beer.
"Shocked you're doubling down, and as an avid NJ craft beer (supporter) I will not be back to your locations," one commenter wrote.
Swedesboro Brewing Co. did not respond Thursday morning when asked to comment about its use of AI and the negative attention the company has received. In a post about Swedesboro Brewing's AI spokesperson on the South Jersey subreddit, some commenters said the whole thing appears to be a publicity stunt to drive engagement regardless of whether it backfires.
Swedesboro Brewing Co. was co-founded by Kevin Bain and Marvin Bowe, who has a background in life sciences marketing and creative branding. He also taught as a fine arts instructor for more than a decade at Northeast Catholic High School in Philadelphia, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Big name brands — including Coach, Prada, Calvin Klein and Vodafone — have turned to generative AI to create virtual characters for promotional marketing in recent years.
Nearly half of Americans who took part in a Bentley University-Gallup poll this year said they have a "very negative" or "somewhat negative" view of AI use in advertising, compared to about 32% with neutral views and 19% with "very positive" or "somewhat positive" attitudes.
About 75% of people who took the survey said they think it's acceptable for businesses to use AI to help employees generate ideas or drafts for advertising, but only 53% approve using AI to create the final text, video and images. Notably, 62% of those polled said they oppose businesses using AI to create people or voices in ads. That sentiment is strongest among young people. The poll found 72% of survey takers 18-29 are against the use of AI-generated people and voices in ads.
