By The Malketeer
Walk into any marketing brainstorm today and chances are the letters “A” and “I” will float onto the whiteboard within the first five minutes.
Yet increasingly, audiences are rolling their eyes.
A new insult has even entered the Gen Z lexicon: “clankers” – borrowed from Star Wars, now weaponised to dismiss robots, chatbots and the glut of AI-generated “slop” that clogs feeds.
That word alone should send shivers down the spines of marketers.
Because when consumers invent a slur for your shiny new technology, it signals fatigue, even contempt.
And history shows: once fatigue sets in, trust doesn’t come back easily.
The Backlash Has Begun
Global research paints a sobering picture: MIT reports that 95% of companies have seen no tangible return on their generative AI investments.
McKinsey echoes this, finding that while adoption is high, bottom-line impact is negligible.
In China, once the most bullish market, users have already drifted away from DeepSeek’s “reasoning model” craze.
In the West, the GPT-5 launch landed with more of a shrug than a standing ovation.
Add to that social media derision – memes mocking chatbot “hallucinations” and endless AI junk content – and you have the beginnings of a cultural backlash.
Closer to home, Malaysian consumers aren’t immune.
One global study found that slapping ‘AI-powered’ on a label can actually put shoppers off.
It may impress the boardroom, but it’s already irritating the street.
Why This Matters for Marketers
Advertising has always thrived on cultural momentum.
But AI is in danger of flipping from zeitgeist to punchline.
Think about it: if the very mention of AI starts to carry the whiff of gimmickry or deception, brands risk being lumped into the same bucket as the “clankers” that Gen Z derides.
Karen Hao doesn’t mince her words. In her book Empire of AI, she calls these systems “monstrosities” that chew through mountains of data, labour and resources.
Whether you agree or not, the framing resonates with a public already weary of climate warnings and tech excess.
That’s why the smarter brands in Malaysia will pivot away from the AI hype machine and towards what audiences actually crave: authenticity, creativity, and a sense that technology is serving them – not the other way around.
How Not to Be a Clanker
The temptation is to slap “AI-powered” on every deck, every pitch, every campaign.
The more we over-signal, the more we risk being lumped in with the very “clankers” that audiences are mocking. So how do we avoid it?
The Malaysian Angle
Malaysia may actually be better placed to ride this backlash.
Unlike Silicon Valley, we don’t carry the same pressure to over-promise moonshots.
And unlike China, we don’t have state-driven AI boosterism.
What we do have is a consumer base that is discerning, price-sensitive, and increasingly protective of cultural identity.
That’s fertile ground for campaigns that say: Yes, we use smart tools behind the scenes – but the heart, the voice, the storytelling remain unmistakably Malaysian.
Brands that get this balance right – blending efficiency with emotional truth – will avoid being labelled “clankers” and instead earn the rarest of currencies in the AI age: trust.
The AI wave will not crash tomorrow. Billions are already sunk into the promise.
But its sheen is fading faster than expected.
For marketers, the lesson is clear: don’t mistake a tool for a story.
The backlash has already written the first chapter.
It’s up to us to write the next – in our own voice, not the clankers’.
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