Polaroid Takes a Shot at Screens with Anti-AI, Pro-Analogue Campaign

Polaroid is taking a stand against screen addiction, AI fatigue, and algorithmic overload with its latest campaign, ‘The Camera for an Analogue Life’, launched to support the release of its newest instant camera, Flip.

Created by the in-house Polaroid Creative Studio, the campaign leans hard on anti-tech sentiment with visual and verbal language designed to interrupt the everyday scroll. Provocative copy lines like “No one on their deathbed ever said: I wish I’d spent more time on my phone” and “Real stories. Not stories & reels” work to challenge the cult of digital, instead pedestalling a return to the tactile, the tangible, and the human.

“We are all analogue creatures, built to connect through our senses,” said Patricia Varella, Polaroid’s brand and creative director. “But the more we lose ourselves in digital algorithms, the more we drift away from empathy and real connection. There is something magical in a Polaroid picture. It captures the humanness of us all, wrinkles and all.”

The campaign has taken over high-footfall spots across New York and London, from JFK Airport to streetside poster runs and prominent placements next to Apple stores and Google offices – staging a visual rebellion beside the belly of the tech beast.

A series of phone-free walking tours is also taking the analogue message global. The first launched in Paris and Tokyo and will culminate in London on August 19th.

Targeting a generation that grew up online but is increasingly weary of it, Polaroid is backing the campaign with a full 360 rollout including paid media, social activations and creator partnerships. Gen Z remains a key audience, many of whom are already rediscovering film and embracing lo-fi, off-grid aesthetics.

The Flip camera itself mirrors the analogue-modern tension. Made up of a compact instant shooter with a flippable protective lid, a hyperfocal 4-lens system, sonar autofocus, adaptive flash and scene analysis features.