Pamela Anderson goes makeup-free in new Aerie anti-AI campaign

Pamela Anderson wants fashion to log off.

The actress and natural beauty advocate, 58, is the face of Aerie’s new anti-AI campaign. Anderson appears unretouched and makeup-free as the American Eagle-owned brand doubles down on its pledge to never use AI-generated bodies or people in its marketing.

In the video, Anderson reads prompts aloud to an AI program, trying to coax it into producing something authentic: “Generate a female model,” “Make her happier, more joyful,” “Add two more models. They should all look… unique,” “Make them feel … real.”

When the program can’t deliver, the scene shifts to a real Aerie set, where Anderson greets a group of models and they pose for a photoshoot together, laughing and goofing around. “You can’t prompt this,” she says.

“I thought it was a clever way to draw attention to [AI images] because it’s very worrisome,” Anderson told Vogue Business. “To me, as a woman, as a consumer, as a mother, I always think, what is happening? What is the difference between AI and real? How are we supposed to know? It was already disheartening at times to look at fashion magazines and see celebrities and models with retouching, but this is another level.”

The campaign builds on Aerie’s Oct. 2025 pledge to ban AI-generated imagery, an extension of its 2014 promise to stop retouching bodies in ads. Since launching the initiative, the brand has reported double-digit growth in brand awareness and a 23% jump in Q4 2025 sales, Aerie CMO Stacey McCormick told Adweek.

It campaign arrives as AI-generated imagery becomes increasingly common across the fashion industry. Brands including Prada, Gucci and Valentino have all incorporated AI visuals into recent campaigns — prompting widespread criticism online — while H&M has deployed “digital twins” of real models.

European retailer Zalando reported that 70% of its editorial images in late 2024 were AI-generated.

Anderson — who also founded the skincare brand Sonsie — has been one of Hollywood’s most vocal advocates for natural beauty since going viral for her makeup-free appearance at Paris Fashion Week in 2023.

The decision to embrace her appearance was part of a larger reckoning for Anderson, who left Hollywood for Vancouver Island several years ago to reconnect with herself and describes herself as an “analog girl.”

“I don’t mind taking one for all of womenkind,” she told Vogue. “I’m not retouching or filtering. This is just what it is, and it’s so freeing. It’s so much more interesting to look perfectly imperfect.”