GoKawiilWTF?! When errors are discovered in products' imagery, most companies are quick to claim that AI hasn't been used in their creation. But the numerous AI-generated typos in the HallPass candy bars' promotional images weren't a mistake: they were purposely included to generate "internet rage bait," according to the firm's president.
The three low-calorie HallPass bars, which each contain 70 calories per package and just 1g of sugar, arrive on Walmart shelves nationwide on August 29. They're the work of Peter Rahal, the cofounder of David Protein and RxBar, and Michael Tierney, the founder of Stuffed Puffs.
Ahead of that launch, HallPass was unveiled to the public on Monday – and it initially appeared to be a disaster. Images of the bars' packaging featured several typos and the garbled text that's a typical sight when AI gets things wrong.
Some examples include the word "water" being used instead of "wafer," along with "suger" and "pacaage." There are also examples of words blended together so they are illegible.
As you'd expect, plenty of people jumped on the errors, calling out the need for more checks in an age where AI is used extensively for content creation. But the whole thing wasn't a colossal screw-up.
Speaking to Business Insider two days later, Tierney said the mistakes were intentional. He explained that while Hallpass did have individual images of the three bars, there were none of them all together, so AI was used to combine the images. But the final result definitely fell into the category of AI slop.
"We left them there for a little bit of internet rage bait," he said. "It's worked."
Some might wonder if the company really did miss the mistakes and then claimed they appeared in the images on purpose. In fairness, it's hard to imagine that nobody spotted some of these blunders. It also sounds like Tierney isn't hiding the fact that they intended to use AI.
The actual packaging on the finished HallPass products won't have any typos when they arrive in Walmart. It does seem like Tierney's goal of achieving "top-of-funnel awareness" for the launch has worked, but rage-bait tactics tend not to endear companies to the public.
In an example of an AI-slop promo image that wasn't intentional, outdoor gear retail giant REI Co-op pulled an Instagram photo of a bike in June that Meta had turned into a two-handlebar monstrosity.