Blurry selfies, fingers covering the camera lens and awkward close-ups have replaced polished campaign visuals on the Instagram feeds of some of the Gulf’s biggest brands.
What began as an apparently accidental post by Saudi abaya brand Sahaba Abaya has quickly become one of the GCC’s biggest social media trends, with brands across Saudi Arabia and the UAE embracing deliberately imperfect, child-like content to engage audiences.
The original post, believed to have been uploaded by the owner’s child, featured a random selfie and a nonsensical caption. Instead of deleting it, the brand left it online, prompting humorous comments from users asking the child to “give mama the phone back.” Soon, other Saudi brands began recreating the format, and the trend rapidly spread to the UAE.
Brands including Uber UAE, du, Visit Abu Dhabi and several creative agencies have since joined in, posting crooked selfies and playful captions written from a child’s perspective.
The trend reflects a broader shift in social media marketing, where authenticity often outperforms polished advertising. Instead of highly produced campaigns, brands are increasingly creating content that feels spontaneous, relatable and native to Instagram.
Some companies have even used AI-generated child images to recreate the aesthetic, highlighting how artificial intelligence is being used to produce content that intentionally looks imperfect.
Whether the trend fades quickly or evolves further, it demonstrates how brands across the GCC are increasingly tapping into internet culture to create content that entertains first and sells second.
