Equinox’s new billboards pair wild AI deepfakes, think Justin Trudeau on a stripper pole, with real humans, with the tagline “Question Everything but Yourself.” It’s a cheeky reminder that while AI can fake anything, you can’t cheat your way to fitness.
Each billboard pairs a bizarre, digitally altered image on the left with a real, sweaty, impossibly fit human on the right. One shows an AI-generated three-breasted figure (pictured above), while another nods to the infamous Pope Francis puffer coat meme. The tagline reads “Question Everything but Yourself,” followed by Equinox’s familiar motto “It’s not Fitness. It’s Life.”
This tongue-in-cheek approach taps into a growing trend among brands, which highlights human authenticity in a world increasingly dominated by AI. AI in advertising often sparks backlash, over ethical concerns and a lack of emotional resonance with even campaigns by Coca-Cola and McDonald’s having drawn ire.
Krish Menon, founder of the agency Angry Gods, emphasises that Equinox isn’t attacking AI, it’s all about context. “This isn’t man vs AI—we use AI ourselves,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s about culture losing it’s grip on what’s real, and fitness is one of the last of truth”
Menon argues the campaign is perfectly timed. “It was too early in 25 and it will be too late in 2027” he said, “Now you can Ozempic yourself to a skinny body, but it won’t make you feel fit; you have to work at it. We wanted to highlight this moment.”
Even as AI images have become technically smoother, the world is still flooded with distortions and exaggerations. Menon noted, “If there is a photo of someone on a dating profile sipping champagne in St. Moritz but he was never there, is that catfishing? We are seeing a hunger for experience that isn’t fake, and Equinox can give that.”
Equinox CMO and chief digital officer Bindu Shah, who joined from Tory Burch last year, told The Hollywood Reporter that boldness is at the heart of the brand.
“I wanted to make sure Equinox is responding to the culture, but what I love is that this is about being grounded and disciplined. It acknowledges how noisy and fabricated things are, but it lands on something you can trust: yourself,” she said.
She admitted controversy is inevitable, but: “What I love is that it’s ultimately optimistic”.
Amid a world of airbrushed selfies and digital illusions, Equinox is banking on real effort, grit and genuine experience to stand out.
