The first ever AI ambassador in craft beer is officially gone…. after only 2 weeks.

Swedesboro Brewing initially introduced “Sarah” their AI marketing ambassador in mid October. And (as expected) “she” was met with intense criticism. While “Sarah” only existed via two posts on social media, the response to her was strong and not in the favor of the brewery.

Hundreds of commentors rushed to the posts to voice their displeasure. For the most part the comments had the same theme. Referring to “Sarah” as a joke, low effort, and not presenting a true representation of what the brewing company had to offer.

At first Swedesboro did make an effort to respond to the backlash. In a (now deleted) post “Sarah” didn’t address specific comments, instead “she” attempted to make light of the reaction to her. Approaching the response with humor. And in an effort to fight the narrative of AI taking jobs the response went as far as saying how “local, talented people” created her.

While the brewing company has not publicly made a statement on deleting the posts involving “Sarah”, brewery ownership has gone on record confirming the decision. In a conversation with NJ.com Marvin Bowe III, founder of Swedesboro, acknowledged how “Sarah” backfired on them. In the conversation Bowe admitted they “tried approaching [commentors] reaction with humor” but that ultimately that added to the backlash. Going on to say that “unfortunately, even our lighthearted attempt to explain the experiment became another reason for criticism. So, we pulled the plug. Not because we suddenly changed our minds about AI, but because there’s a difference between experimenting with marketing and allowing an experiment to become a distraction from the actual business.”

Bowe went on to lament the response on social media sharing how the negative reactions garnered more views than traditional posts. “Ironically, the more negative attention Sarah received, the more her videos seemed to spread. Meanwhile, posts featuring real employees, real experiences, and real artwork received a fraction of the attention. That’s a pretty interesting observation about social media in itself,” Bowe said.

So for now it would appear that AI virtual “marketing entities?” may not be quite ready to enter the craft beer industry. Only time will tell when the next “Sarah” pops up.