Advertising law and generated imagery
The AI Act is about disclosure. Consumer protection law is about accuracy, it has existed for decades, and it is the one that produces complaints from actual customers rather than from regulators.
The older rule
European consumer protection law prohibits commercial practices that deceive or are likely to deceive the average consumer about the main characteristics of a product: what it is, what it does, what it is made of and what it looks like. An image is a representation of those characteristics, and it is held to the same standard as a sentence.
Labelling an image as AI-generated does not make an inaccurate image lawful. Disclosure and accuracy are separate obligations, and the second is the one that gets you a chargeback.
Where flattery becomes misrepresentation
| Treatment | Usually fine | Usually not |
|---|---|---|
| Lighting | Even, flattering studio light | Light that hides a defect or changes the colour |
| Background | Clean white or a plausible scene | A scene implying included items |
| Scale | Accurate, with a reference | A scene implying a different size |
| Detail | Sharpened from the original | Detail added that the product does not have |
| Context | Product used as intended | Performance the product does not deliver |
The props problem
A generated lifestyle scene tends to fill itself with things. A cushion appears on the sofa, a plant beside the lamp, a matching set around the single item you sell. If a buyer could reasonably think those are included, the image is making a claim about what is in the box.
The fix is boring and effective: state what is included in the listing, and keep generated props visually subordinate and obviously separate.
Category-specific rules still apply
- Cosmetics: before-and-after imagery is regulated in most European markets.
- Food: depiction of the served product must reflect what is supplied.
- Supplements and health: implied efficacy claims are tightly controlled.
- Textiles and furniture: colour and material representation feeds directly into returns and into distance selling rights.
The commercial argument
Set the law aside for a moment. An image that oversells produces a return, a refund, a bad review and a customer who does not come back. The compliance case and the margin case point the same way, which is worth using when the decision is argued internally.