Marketplace®
Every story is an economic story
Apr 13, 2026

Is “made by humans” the new premium label?

Consumers react poorly to marketing and products that were (or are perceived to have been) designed with AI, according to Colleen Kirk at the New York Institute of Technology.

Download
Is “made by humans” the new premium label?
visualspace/Getty Images

Subscribe:

Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes was shopping recently with her seven-year-old who was drawn to a “Relaxolotl,” a tea infuser shaped like an axolotl. And it had a label: “designed in Rhode Island, by people.”

Relaxolotl
A "Relaxolotl" tea infuser made by Genuine Fred, labeled as "designed in Rhode Island, by people."
Stephanie Hughes/Marketplace

Genuine Fred (part of Lifetime Brands, Inc.) makes the relaxolotl. Division president Jason Amendolara told “Marketplace Tech” the company adopted the saying over a decade ago, before artificial intelligence was really in the conversation. It was meant to signal there were real humans behind the ideas. But now, the phrase has taken on new meaning. Genuine Fred does use AI as a tool, but Amendolara says people are still at the center of its design process.

That made us wonder: Could human involvement be highlighted more by brands in the future? Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes discussed that with New York Institute of Technology professor Colleen Kirk, who has studied how people respond to marketing messages created by AI.

More on this

The AI-authorship effect: Understanding authenticity, moral disgust, and consumer responses to AI-generated marketing communications - from Journal of Business Research

The Team

Is “made by humans” the new premium label?