Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping digital marketing by creating automated content, personalizing campaigns, and offering new ways to engage consumers. This systematic review examines research on generative AI, highlighting both its technological progress and the ethical, technical, and organizational hurdles that could limit its use. We used a PRISMA-based method to search major databases (ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, and Scopus) for peer-reviewed studies published from 2018 to 2025. Our findings reveal major gains in text creation, image generation, and multimodal campaigns, which can lower costs and spark creative thinking. Still, data privacy, bias in models, and laws around compliance show the need for clear and responsible adoption. By bringing in ideas from Innovation Diffusion Theory and the Technology Acceptance Model, this review shows how organizational culture and perceived value interact with ethical frameworks to shape how generative AI tools take hold. We provide insights for marketers who want to apply generative AI in a responsible way and set a path for future research aimed at protecting consumer trust.
Rahman et al. (2026) studied this question.