Local small business owners are begging others not to use AI marketing in Toronto

Regardless of whether you live in Toronto or not, you’ve probably noticed AI marketing all over the place lately, and not just online but in the real world too.

From sandwich boards to flyers, menus to Instagram posts, AI marketing is everywhere, especially for local businesses. And for good reason: what small business owner wouldn’t jump on the chance to automate a costly, time-consuming task for free?

While the proliferation of AI marketing can seem harmless, or even beneficial, some local small business owners in Toronto are speaking out against it.

Little Ghosts is a horror-themed book shop specializing in independent and underrepresented authors and publishers. The business has a strict no-AI policy that covers its homegrown imprint, purchasing practices, and marketing.

“We’re a community of writers, filmmakers, and artists ourselves. AI use has damaged the economy and solidarity of the arts, creating the circulation of free stolen assets and devaluing the labour and creativity of working artists across all mediums,” Little Ghosts bookstore owner Chris Krawczyk tells yourcitywithIN.

“We’re against AI marketing because we are pro artists and creators being paid for their work. AI was built through the theft of creative assets.”

Of course, it makes sense that artists and writers would speak out against AI marketing for local businesses. But AI marketing has been proliferating in one particularly disturbing area of local business: restaurants.

Overnight, it seems to have become perfectly acceptable to advertise food items using AI-generated imagery instead of photographs of real products. Restaurants at all levels, from takeout spots to high-end places, are filling social media feeds with AI-generated videos of cartoon people enjoying cartoon food in cartoon restaurants.

“It comes down to what marketing is for us. It’s how people get to know who we are, and who we are is the people behind it. We rely on amazing people to make the content you see. That runs from the designers who created the brand, to the marketing team that leads the content, to the people working in the shops who appear in it,” sub and ice cream shop owner and chef Michael Lam tells yourcitywithIN.

But what if you don’t have designers, a marketing team, or even a team of people who work in your business? How is a restaurant supposed to get its start in a city like Toronto when it’s up against all that?

“It’s tempting to just ‘try’ something and see if it sticks, but trust carries so much weight for a brand,” says Lam.

“A lot of people don’t know that Good Behaviour started as just ice cream. If it wasn’t for the trust we’d built, the subs wouldn’t have taken off as quickly as they did.”

“I unfortunately have watched extremely well meaning and gentle small business owners get dogpiled for using AI in their social media,” says Krawczyk.

“People don’t like AI, they don’t like to see people using it. It’s tacky, it’s cheap, it looks bad and it makes you look bad, tacky, and cheap. It’s a shame. When these lovely local folks rightfully point out that they are exhausted and strapped for cash and the AI saves them time and money, they are not wrong about those things. It’s just, we are racing to the bottom here to collect the scraps left over after developers, real estate opportunists, processing fees, and all of the other arms of capitalism that extract our resources while offering us all the least amount of value for money possible get all of the capital.”

“When you see a GB post you’re seeing someone you might actually meet at the counter. That’s hard to hand off,” says Lam.

“The empathy and the magic come from people who know the product, know the neighbourhood, and care how it lands. We’d rather our marketing be a bit less polished and be real. The amount of laughter and engagement we get from the communities when they stop by is incredibly valuable to us, and we think that bit of familiarity is also what makes them want to come in.”

On the relationship between restaurants and AI, Lam feels robots are better suited to less creative tasks, something many small-business employees already do.

“A lot of people are worried about AI taking over jobs, but there are plenty of jobs we never get to because we’re limited to our 24 hours. So we look for ways to systemize and automate the day-to-day that doesn’t require hospitality magic, like moving numbers from our POS into spreadsheets,” says Lam.

“There needs to be intention and purpose behind using AI, not just using it for the sake of it. Some work is standardized, factory-like work, and AI can certainly be used for that. It buys people back time to put their skills and experience into the tasks that need empathy and magic.”

So how do you market your small local business on a budget without using AI? What strategies can possibly match its sheer convenience?

“The alternative for the marketing itself is the stuff that built us in the first place: real people and real relationships,” says Lam.

“For us that means putting our own team in front of the camera, collaborating with brands we believe in and our neighbourhoods, and showing up in person at pop-ups and community events. We’d rather refine what’s already working than chase something because it’s new and shiny.”

“I promise you there are students, creatives, local designers, and many other freelancers who would be so happy to make you something. Throw something out to your community or customers. There are artists everywhere and everyone is struggling for work. They would love to make something for a small store in their neighbourhood or person who doesn’t suck,” says Krawczyk.

“If all else fails, get some cheap art supplies and DIY with the staff, put up a call for work at your local library or arts college, grab a high school art student, anything. You will have engaging conversations about what the identity of your brand is, maybe meet a new person, learn about yourself and your aesthetics, cause synapses in your brain to fire, and be better off than if you used the no thoughts button machine. I’m begging.”