Deepfake Ryan Reynolds Pitches for Tesla, Elon Musk for Aviation Gin

These definitely parodies help the brands.

MeetKevin did a humorous parody of a Tesla commercial featuring a deepfake Ryan Reynolds. The script is a bit off-color, so only click if you are okay with that. Otherwise, take a look at the video. It is pretty funny. Click the video below.

Even more notable is one of the key responses the Tweeter received from the post.

AI Creative for Everyone

MeetKevin is the creation of Kevin Paffrath. He is not in the ad industry or a designer. He is a real estate agent in California that now sells courses on how to make money in real estate and investing. More recently, he began to turn his audience onto AI and has a new course on using generative AI to improve productivity.

Maybe he paid someone to make the video. Maybe he did it himself. The tools are so accessible right now, easy to use, and inexpensive that everyone has access. You too can make a short Parody video and get both Elon Musk and Ryan Reynolds to take notice.

Extending the Meme

Maximum Effort, a studio owned by Ryan Reynolds, then did a parody of the parody ad with Elon Musk pitching Aviation Gin. Reynolds is a part owner of the liquor brand. The script closely paralleled that of the fake Tesla ad.

Twitter posts no longer embed in Substack. You can watch the Musk video here.

This isn’t Reynolds’ first rodeo with generative AI. He made a Mint Mobile ad (another company where he is a leading investor) written by ChatGPT in January. He has a studio, is in the film industry, and is surrounded by creatives. It is not surprising that he and his team would create a deepfake video. But, MeetKevin is another story.

The key point here is that everyone likes to talk about the democratization of technology. Sometimes their comments are true, and sometimes they are a stretch. Generative AI and deepfakes are actually expanding everyone’s access to creativity.

Deepfake Transparency

One more point to consider. These parody ads were designed so that it was easy to spot them as deepfakes. The technology could have delivered a much more convincing performance. But the lower-quality deepfake is part of the joke. Most viewers will know that deepfakes can be much better.

MeetKevin also provided a short “context” comment on Twitter to confirm it is a parody. There is increased interest in deepfake detection and making it clear when AI is being used. This is an interesting option for self-reporting.

Regardless, both ads brought new attention to Tesla and Aviation Gin. That’s a win for those brands, no matter who did the parody video.

• What do you think?

• Is this context comment helpful or unnecessary?

• Are you concerned about being fooled by deepfakes?

• Did you like the ads?

Let me know in the comments below.