In a world of AI slop, Back Market, the refurbished tech marketplace, is encouraging consumers to stop with endless upgrades and get more creative about the choices they make.

The ‘Downgrade Now’ campaign positions Back Market as the cultural antidote to an algorithm-driven society. Tapping into the growing tech fatigue trend, at a time when consumers are seeking to make more analogue and vintage tech choices, the campaign champions a more human and playful approach to tech. 

The out of home campaign is made up of creative executions across London and Birmingham that feature six rotating messages that parody everything from nonsensical AI outputs to impenetrable tech jargon. 

One execution pairs an iPhone with an AI-generated muscular frog asking passersby to “Scroll past the slop, for less”. Another sees an iPad and Apple Pencil with a hand-drawn illustration with the instruction, “Do hand stuff”, while a PlayStation 5 says, “Your boss can’t ping you here.”

The playful visuals challenge a world of AI noise, endless scrolling, algorithms and upgrades. The campaign challenges audiences to think differently about the tech choices they make and be more creative. 

"At a time when technology’s sole purpose seems to be launching the next AI update, the simple human benefits of tech—texting friends, playing music, making art—are being sidelined. Their inhuman replacements, aka “slop,” are everywhere, and people are crying out for a return to a simpler relationship with their tech,” says Daniel Brill, Executive Creative Director at Back Market. 

He continues: “Back Market’s Downgrade Now campaign offers an escape from this unsustainable cycle of upgrades and sloptimization, with a simple idea: what if the tech you (and the planet) actually need, is tech that already exists?"

In a category obsessed with the new and the next, often focused on products and specs, the campaign instead aims to tap into a growing cultural tension. Asking consumers to downgrade, the brand aims to spark wider industry conversation around creative fatigue and the future of tech marketing.

The campaign runs across TV, video on demand, out of home, social, and audio across the UK, US, France, Spain and Germany. 

At a time when feeds are saturated with AI-generated creative, Back Market is deliberately going against the grain to spark cultural conversation and offer an alternative tech ecosystem.