In every iteration of Willy Wonka, whether you're a fan of Gene Wilder, Johnny Depp, or Timothee Chalamet, Willy and Oompa Loompa-filled Chocolate Factory has been beloved by generations. So when people saw photos online showing a place that offered a walkable tour of a Willy Wonka-inspired experience, people in Glasgow, Scotland flocked to be in a world of pure imagination.

 

However, that's all it was: pure imagination. What was advertised was nothing like what was actually in store for the people who bought tickets to this sham.

 

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Guido Vrola
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Willy's Chocolate Catastrophe

Right off the bat, anyone with an attentive eye should have been suspicious of the art being showcased on the site's website. All of the photos in the advertising are AI-generated, and completely misleading as to what the actual experience was like. Customers were charged £45 to show up to an empty warehouse that was nothing like what they expected. The entire thing was so bad, that even the police were called.

 

 

The misleading advertising is so bad, that on the official website for the event, they didn't even bother trying to touch up the AI images they used to fix the weird spelling errors that are typically seen with AI-generated photos. I will post screenshots of the website's misleading content below.

 

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People who went to the event have created a public Facebook group to air their grievances as well as post pictures from the event to give a full scale of just how ridiculous the entire event was.

 

Overall, this is a frustrating situation to see how easily AI can be abused to mislead unsuspecting people. Thankfully, everyone will receive a full refund. This will hopefully serve as an example of how badly AI needs to be regulated.

 

Willy's Chocolate Nightmare

Here is a series of screenshots from the website that offered customers a one-of-a-kind experience. While the customers definitely got a unique experience, I'm sure it wasn't the one they were hoping for.

Gallery Credit: Tommy McNeill

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