The European retail and wholesale trade body Eurocommerce has asked the EU’s tech commissioner to allow businesses to use AI in ads without disclosing it to consumers, according to Reuters.

The group’s director general Christel Delberghe made the request directly to Henna Virkkunen, executive vice president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy at the European Commission, in a letter seen by the news agency.

Under the EU AI Act, organisations have to disclose when they have used AI to generate or alter images, audio, or videos, such that content “resembles existing persons, objects, places, entities or events and would falsely appear to a person to be authentic or truthful”.

This transparency obligation will come into force on 2 August, at which time organisations will have to label such material with EU-approved “AI”, “AI generated,” and “AI modified” labels.

Delberghe said that if advertisements generating or edited using AI are not exempted from the rules it would reduce how helpful disclosures are to consumers, adding that retailers will have to flag a “very large share of AI-assisted content”.

Since the rapid adoption of generative AI in 2023, brands have begun to use AI to generate more marketing materials. In March 2025, H&M announced plans to advertise its products with AI-generated digital twins of models and in October that year snack maker Mondelez said it would cut advertising costs 30 to 50 per cent with short-form AI clips.

In January, advertising business organisation the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) found that 83 per cent of ad executives say their company used AI in the process in 2025-2026, with 64 per cent citing cost efficiencies as the chief benefit.

At the same time, the IAB found consumer perceptions of AI ads is worsening, with 30 per cent stating they are somewhat or very negative about them compared to 18 per cent in 2024.

The organisation also tracked a widening gap between advertiser and consumer perceptions of AI usage in ads. In 2025-2026, 82 per cent of advertisers felt somewhat or very positive about AI ads, compared to 45 per cent of consumers.

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