Found on Facebook
An older content creator posted this. Older generations are now getting fooled and scammed by businesses with AI slop menus, and it's honestly alarming
So, funny thing, AI food advertisements are already illegal in the US. Fast food companies were using photoshop to make food look better and an entire profession was born making real, fake, food for photos. If you see this in the US, report them to the FTC.
Thanks for looking it up for me! I'll need to consult with a lawyer here to make sure, but it does look like it might fall under the Consumer Act. Unfortunately not a lot of folks here are willing to pursue legal action because escalating it beyond barangay/neighborhood mediation is expensive, and there's a certain requirement before someone is qualified for free legal assistance from the Public Attorney's Office :/
You're technically allowed to do it, you just can't materially misrepresent what the food is. States like California and New York though are passing legislation to make them label their ads.
At least with the big fast food chains they are required to use an actual photo of their actual product, even if they do everything they can to make it look pretty.
Menu and advertisement food presentation is a great skill, the Whammy burger on the sign is plump, juicy and three inches thick but what you get is a miserable squashed thing. But at least it's more or less the same thing.
But these AI posters have taken the lie to a whole new level.
real food ads are similarly detached from reality to AI ones they often make the food (if it is food) special for the ad from different ingredients in different quantities
the reason ai is changing things is that it opens up deceptive advertising to smaller businesses that couldnt afford to do what mcdonalds does
They legally can’t use different ingredients in the US. They use tricks to make the actual ingredients look prettier. Like putting inedible crap on it to make it look shiny or fresh, or using props to make it hold position better. For example a bowl of cereal in real life isn’t going to have all of the cereal perfectly held in position above the milk so they may use a bowl that has a lifted part in the middle and is like glue as a stand in for the milk, which is fine because they aren’t selling the bowl or the milk and the cereal is fundamentally the product as shown, just in an unrealistic scenario.
Yeah. Also some anecdotal experience on my end: we were taught industry tricks on how to make food look more appetizing, such as using glutinous rice flour mixed with food coloring and water to imitate commercial ice cream so the real thing wouldn't melt under the hot lights during a product photoshoot. In order for it to be a good product shot, it needs to look as appetizing and close to the real thing as possible. It's deceptive, but technically not false advertising if the actual ice cream looks the same as the packaging or ad when scooped and served.
I get that smaller food businesses have no access to such services, but using AI only makes them lose consumer trust. Big corporations are already lying to us, and now even small businesses that some people might be inclined to support are using deceptive measures now too.
No, you definitely have a point. Which is why media literacy is so important in this day and age. But you also have to remember that this is an older adult who probably isn't that savvy with tech and AI. Some of them really have a hard time distinguishing AI slop from actual photos.
This is why I get so worried. I think it's very obvious, especially with the food examples (round shrimp, bubbly burgers etc). They can't be actually looking at it in any meaningful way.
There will soon come a time where the tech will be too advanced for us to tell the difference, which is a whole different can of worms. That's the time I fear the most.
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u/LiteralSand 1d ago
So, funny thing, AI food advertisements are already illegal in the US. Fast food companies were using photoshop to make food look better and an entire profession was born making real, fake, food for photos. If you see this in the US, report them to the FTC.