By Callum Wilsie
On February 24, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland, company Illuminati House was set to release a Wonka themed “chocolate experience” in light of the release of the new Wonka movie. Thousands of people had received ads for the experience on websites such as Facebook and Instagram, which promised “a place where chocolate dreams become reality.” People paid £35.00 ($45 in USD) to come see the exciting experience, which was to be held in the Box Hub Warehouse.
According to the “experience” section of the official website, there were to be four stages to the event. The Enchanted Garden, where you would “navigate through a peculiar but enchanting garden collecting delicious beans of all colours, shapes and sizes” (sic), The Imagination Lab, promising “mind-expanding projections” and “optical marvels,” Captivating Entertainment, with “live performances featuring charming characters singing orginal catchy tunes” (sic) and the Twilight Tunnel, which was accompanied by surreal AI imagery with the text “LIGHTNG | DIMDICli | DIM TIGHT | TWDRDING | DIPPRACTIONS | DODJECTION | VIVUE SOUNDS | ENIGMATIC SOUNDS | UNGIREVEL | SVƗIDE | EMPETRY | UKXEPCTED TWITS”.
Despite the shady website and obvious AI generated content, hundreds of tickets were sold — and hundreds of families showed up, only for the most disappointing experience of their lives. Rather than an “enchanted garden,” there was a rainbow arc, a single large mushroom prop, and a hastily thrown together bridge. Rather than an “imagination lab,” there was a half-inflated bouncy house and cheap broken plastic banners bought from Temu with AI-generated candy land imagery on them.
The ‘captivating entertainment’ consisted of a small handful of sexy oompa loompas– yes, you read that right– and a small-time comedy actor hired to play Willy Wonka. All actors were given AI generated scripts. According to Wonka’s actor, the part of the script that really got him was when he had to monologue about the “Unknown,” an “evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls.” At some point, a scare actor wearing a horrifying silver mask popped up from behind a prop mirror, to represent the Unknown.
Nearly everyone who went left disappointed, as the experience which was promised to last “45 minutes to an hour” barely capped at 7 minutes. “Underwhelming was an understatement. Embarrassing doesn’t even cut it. I paid for Willy Wonka and got Billy Bonkers,” says one angry mom via Facebook.
While AI may at first seem like a positive tool for business, help with writer’s block, and homework, many feel that this incident may be joining a disturbing negative trend. Since AI has the capabilities to generate literally anything imaginable, this gives way to a paradise for scammers. Combining this with the fact that anyone can pay to advertise anything they want within reason on social media, you get a recipe for disaster. This is the first widely broadcasted incident of its kind, but we can only hope people learn from it and it’s the last.
beniciapaw.com 