What Apple’s hand-embroidered product launch reveals about advertising in the age of AI slop

To promote its latest product launch, Apple—one of the world’s biggest technology companies—picked up a needle and thread. In this era of AI food slop, AI agents behind plush toys with eerie smiles, and deepfakes that make it harder to trust what’s real, the human touch could become a selling point on its own. Showing that someone took the time to make something by hand gives brands a way to signal care, creativity, and attention to detail. The effort—along with the small imperfections that reveal a human hand—can become part of the appeal, potentially making a brand feel worth paying…