• by Sarah Mahoney , Yesterday

Polaroid — on a mission to remind people that smartphones aren't the only way to document good times — is at it again. The company just put up a billboard on New York's famed Coney Island Beach, headlined: "Go jump in some water before the data centers drink it all up."

It's part of the company's new "The Best of Summer Is Analog" campaign, designed to highlight real-world experiences in a relentlessly digital culture, while promoting the new Polaroid Go Generation 3 camera. It's also a sequel of sorts: The effort builds on the success of last year's campaign, which reminded people that "AI can't generate the sand between your toes."

The new push breaks just as Gen Z's opinion of tech in general — and AI in particular — is hitting new lows. A recent Gallup poll, based on 1,600 respondents aged 14 to 29, reports that only 18% are hopeful about AI, and 22% are excited. That's down from 27% (hopeful) and 36% (excited) last year. And 31% say they are angry at it, up from 22% last year.

Outdoor ads are also running in London, New York and South Korea, with headlines like "You can't bask in blue light," "Dance like nobody is recording" and "What a glorious day to stare into various screens for hours on end."

"When we stopped asking 'How do you make instant cameras appealing to Gen Z?' and started asking 'Why should Polaroid exist at all in an AI era?' we knew we were on to something," said Patricia Varella, Polaroid's creative director, in the announcement.

And it isn't that the brand is anti-tech, exactly. "We know we have to live alongside it, but we're deeply pro-human, and know what humanity gives us. And we know what we stand to lose if we don't protect it," Varella added. "That's a fight worth fighting."

By bringing a conversation about data centers and water consumption directly to the beach, Polaroid is picking a fight it can easily win. The majority of Americans — 71%, per a separate Gallup poll – oppose data centers in their area, and 48% are strongly opposed. A Heatmap poll shows that sentiment is even more intense in Polaroid’s Gen Z target, with 83% opposing the projects.

Even better, data centers are something of an equal-opportunity nemesis, with both conservatives and liberals rejecting new construction.

This year's campaign also includes an extensive influencer push: twelve creators announced — via handwritten notes shared on their own feeds — that they were taking a Polaroid-sponsored break from social media. On their return, they're posting about their offline adventures.

The Polaroid Go Generation 3 is the latest update to what the company claims is the world's smallest analog camera. It's priced at $90, and the film — which measures 3 inches by 2 inches — costs $22 for 32 photos.