Icelandic national airline Icelandair has unveiled the latest chapter of its ongoing award-winning brand platform, The Real Unreal, launching a bold new social-first content series that champions the authenticity of real travel. The campaign challenges the growing influence of AI-generated imagery, proving that no fake image can compete with the real, in-person experience of Iceland.
The need for Icelandair to take a stand became clear following focus groups that revealed that many people believe “images of Iceland look too good to be true.” This insight reflects a wider erosion of trust driven by AI misinformation, with nearly 80% of people concerned about AI-generated or fake travel content, and one in threesaying they have felt misled when booking a trip.
Rolling out across Icelandair’s global social channels, the light-hearted video content follows the airline’sMarketing Director as he explores some of Iceland’s most iconic landscapes – from dramatic vistas toencounters with the country’s famous Icelandic horses – playfully challenging the idea that Iceland “looks too good to be real.”
He then takes to the streets, asking passers-by one simple question: can they tell real images of Iceland from AI-generated ones? Even locals struggled to spot fake versions of their own landmarks, while Londoners were surprised to learn that the scenes they assumed were “too good to be true” were, in fact, 100% realphotographs.
Gísli S. Brynjólfsson, Director of Marketing and host of the content series, said: “We love AI for many reasons – but no AI-generated image of Iceland can ever replace the real thing. With so many people being fooled by picture-perfect fakes, we wanted to call out the fakery and show off the real Icelandwith our Real Unreal campaign. It’s spectacular, incredibly hard to copy, and best experienced in person.”
Reinforcing its commitment to transparency, Icelandair has introduced an internal code of conduct governinghow it uses AI, setting clear standards for authenticity and responsible innovation.
