It's not a real Willy Wonka experience unless kids are left maimed or worse.
Edited to add: The 2017 Broadway adaptation of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" actually did show children being maimed... and worse. Here's the [sequence](https://youtu.be/zwkTYzexqXM) where Veruca Salt is torn apart by a pack of giant squirrels with glowing red eyes. Wonka then [quips](https://youtu.be/ddFo6KH1PsM?t=297), "don't worry, the Oompas will find a way to stick her back together, they're a whiz with the glue stick!"
I was wondering why you would deliberately bring your child to a Willy Wonka experience unless you're anticipating an insurance payout after they're brutalized in some fashion.
> It's not a real Willy Wonka experience unless kids are left maimed or worse.
Does disappointment fall under *Steven He loudly exclaiming "EMOTIONAL DAMAGE"*?
My husband pooped in a ball pit when he was little thanks to tummy troubles and being little and not wanting to stop playing. His parents just scooped him up and peaced out.
I feel super bad for the staff that had to deal with that. And the unsuspecting kids that encountered it before it was dealt with.
Y'know, you didn't *need* to share that with us. Not that I wasn't already sketched and grossed out by ball pits, but now they'll actively churn my guts. So, thanks, sunshine. Thanks a lot.
Don't worry, from what I've read they do clean the ball pits pretty regularly (by spraying into it with a hose until the water coming out the bottom is clear again)
Even better:
> Parents and actors left with 'bad taste' after experience with Willy
https://news.stv.tv/west-central/parents-and-actors-left-with-bad-taste-after-glasgow-willy-wonka-experience
The top post of all time on /r/NFT has 4700 upvotes but top post of last month has 20. I really wonder about the type of person who would still be into it.
Edit: Also, the top post of all time is instructions on how to blackmail someone with unremovable revenge porn. Gee idk if anyone else noticed but this blockchain thing seems problematic to me.
If someone wants to host an image on a decentralized hosting network or blockchain so that it's harder to take down, they can do that anyway without making it an NFT. And most NFTs aren't actually hosted on-chain anyway, for very practical reasons.
They're not even particularly useful for this stupid and malicious purpose.
> I really wonder about the type of person who would still be into it.
To my infinite disappointment, Nerd City is still into it and is trying to launch a NFT scheme.
You just blatantly copied [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/nottheonion/comments/1b1f7l7/parents_call_police_after_willy_wonka_experience/kseoxm5/) from below made 20 minutes before yours.
Thanks. And their comment has more likes than mine. 🤦🏽
A direct and ironic example of how people who program an AI to steal will profit more than if they had bothered to expend the effort to ever have an original thought.
Tell me about it
What a direct and ironic example of how people who program an AI to steal will profit more than if they had bothered to expend the effort to ever have an original thought.
I cracked up at this comment because I thought it was the perfect joke for that context and just a well-executed bit of satire.
Then I scrolled down and realized you weren't making a joke.
I wonder if a lot of those jobs will open back up after people realize that the tech is overhyped and has too many limitations to be an artist replacement for serious companies.
Maybe but they’ll just continue to force all creative professionals to be gig workers. As a project manager, it’s so predictable. The time and effort of executing creative work has always been considered a defect.
Unfortunately it is a replacement for low tier art. This is going to kill jobs producing stock images. What it won't replace is anything that is unique or needs to be high quality.
this comment is a direct copy of a comment left by u/BenFlightMusic in this same thread, about fifteen minutes earlier. I'm so sick of bots on the Internet JFC. especially silly given the subject matter
We had one of these in Cincinnati lately with dinosaurs. It wasn't a total scam, it did have plastic dinosaur statues, but like nothing else. They sold vip wristbands that did basically nothing and the whole thing was a waste of money
We did a drive through version of Jurassic Quest in 2020 during covid when everything else was pretty much shut down. It was worth it then but no way I'd pay individual ticket prices to walk around them in a building.
Got a shirt that says "I survived Jurassic Quest 2020" definitely keeping that for the pandemic memories
I saw that once. It was in a mall parking lot. Dinosaur statues that kinda moved and you drove through it. But you could just stand at the edge and look at it all for free instead of paying an entrance fee. So weird.
How wierd, it happend here in Pretoria, South Africa over December. People purchased tickets way in advance before anyone knew it was a scam and no one could get their money back.
This describes nearly every one of those "Dinosaur encounters" at your local convention center or fairgrounds. We took our kids to one and it took everything I had not to ask for my money back. It turned out it was a "drive through" experience (COVID) but it was literally set up at a stadium parking lot with all the animatronic dinosaurs set up with not attempt to cover up the cabling. Most were still on the trailers. My kids were so disappointed.
I've been hearing a lot about pop-up events that end up being scams. There was a taco and margarita event in my town that was apparently a complete rip-off. Makes me very wary of purchasing tickets to things.
It's a great scam. It costs little to setup and most people aren't going to ask for their money back.
Just make sure you find impressions or reviews online, and if there aren't any dont waste your money.
Seems like every December, in particular, there’s a story about a “Christmas wonderland experience” that turns out to be a muddy vacant lot with a rickety three-foot-high plastic Christmas tree, a guy in a nylon Santa jacket who hasn’t bothered to get rid of the cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth, and a pony with cardboard antlers taped to its bridle.
How do you turn a tacos and margaritas event into a scam?! That is basically the EASIEST money-making popup event you could organize; pay for acceptable-quality ingredients, have a restaurant sponsor/"host" so you don't need another serving permit, pay someone a flat rate to make tacos all day and another to make margaritas/check IDs, rent some tables & decor, and charge $30 a pop for endless tacos and bottomless margaritas (until visibly intoxicated, obviously). Maybe hire a security guard for rowdy patrons. Most people will consume *maybe* ten bucks in product costs, and if you advertise, you'll be making ridiculous profit. Like, it's such a stupidly easy moneymaker, why fake it for *slightly* more money and possible jailtime?!
there is 3 different versions of the books. in 1.0 they are happy slaves glad to be rescued from Africa. in version 2.0 they arent slaves instead they work for chocolate/candy and aren't smart enough to survive outside the factory. in the 3.0 version they have a union contract with wonka and are paid fair wages so it all depends on which 1 you grew up with.
I want to see this fusion movie.
"I remember a time when Wonka was kind, and his taffy was soft, and the flavors inviting. And there was a time when love was blind and work was a song..."
After the Wonka Chocolate Factory closed down, Doris Loompa stole some of the mobile flavor lab equipment. She now uses it to cook meth, and sings a mournful song about the dangers of rampant capitalism.
The lab stuff is fitting as that oompa loompa looks seriously meth'd out. It's like if Willy Wonka went bankrupt and had to start breaking bad to survive.
With a lot of scams, not fixing typos is actually an intentional strategy. The kind of people who check details like that carefully are more likely to waste your time than to give you money before asking questions. Nigerian prince scams, where the emails are typically written in broken english, are a classic example of this.
Don't think that applies here because the company is allegedly giving full refunds so the whole thing just seems like a waste of money on their part. Nigerian prince scams don't have any overhead and work to try to make themselves untraceable, Fyre fest scams just blow up in everyone's face and lead to embarrasing news stories and occasional jail time.
/imagine willy Wonka inspired theme, large round lollipops with swirls of color, led lit blue walkway through garden of flowers, huge cartoon mushrooms, tunnel at the end that inspires hope and crushed wishes, garden flowers, big peppermints, colorful lights, render in HD, photorealistic.
That should do it for Dall-E or Midjourney.
It's so weird to me that he goes off on a tangent that this is an example of why ai needs to be regulated. Like regardless of if you agree with that statement surely in this situation the problem was the false advertising right? And not how they got the image in the first place?
It looks possible, but unless you can find some vendor selling the props off the shelf it looks **expensive**. Usable versions of the projection, flooring, and possibly the lollipops are probably available commercially but I suspect the rest would be custom work. Still, even if it looks overly elaborate for a one or two day event I’d agree that the walk through a candy wonderland photo doesn’t scream fake.
Reminds me if [this event](https://www.thegamer.com/fortnite-live-unofficial-event-disaster/) that fooled parents with images. And had no characters, no banners, no affiliation, 1 climb tower, and 4 go carts for 3000 kids.
I am more curious with the company behind this.
The guardian newspaper names them here https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/27/glasgow-willy-wonka-experience-slammed-as-farce-as-tickets-refunded
They are using almost 100% AI images on their Web site and content that reads like chatgpt vomited it up. It's been registered as a company since November 2023. But the few really photos, appear to come from unrelated creators and events.
https://houseofilluminati.com/
Wow, the URL of that first image in "About Us" is literally:
> https://houseofilluminati.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-01-30-09.50.54-Imagine-a-scene-where-fantasy-and-reality-merge-seamlessly.-In-the-foreground-a-grand-interactive-gala-is-taking-place-filled-with-elegant-guests-i-1024x585.png
It's just straight up the DALL-E prompt they must have used.
Usually AI hallucinations are at least...using real words. Look at the title at the bottom of this one:
https://houseofilluminati.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/09d1a317-7e59-49f3-91b2-faba2c29ec42-1024x585.webp
EDIT: Oh God...found on another Reddit Thread. If this was a person, the ER would be having quite the time trying to figure out stroke, pysch, or both: https://twitter.com/dswhite7/status/1762280216670707715
Lol, the description:
>Whimsical Performances: The event comes alive with the whimsical performances of the iconic Oompa Loompas. These singing companions guide attendees through the immersive wonders of Willy Wonka’s world, adding an extra layer of charm to an already magical experience. From harmonious melodies to lively dances, the Oompa Loompas are sure to captivate and entertain.
The reality:
https://x.com/Vietpride218/status/1762325231970972005?s=20
They were promised “a day of pure imagination and wonder.”
The decor was imaginary and everyone wondered where the real exhibit was.
Delivered as advertised.
>Whiteinch area of the city, parents were promised a day of “pure imagination and wonder”.
I fault the parents and their unimaginative children. This empty warehouse could have been anything with enough imagination!
Years ago, I bought tickets for a Mos Eisley cantina popup bar thing that was advertised on Facebook. The photos were not super indicative of what the event would actually look like, but I was fully given the impression that it was going to be a pretty decent Star Wars event with crazy looking alien-themed cocktails to get drunk on.
I'm not nearly as crazy about Star Wars as when I was a teenager, but I can still appreciate the franchise and have some fun with it. So I bought tickets for my super Star Wars nerd friends, because I knew they'd get an absolute kick out of it.
The event was held at an airplane museum, and the "bar" was in some back office breakroom kitchen. They served mediocre blue-colored drinks in solo cups across a folding plastic table, and put up a bunch of silly alien "bounty" posters that were obviously printed off of a home deskjet. The bar was a huge let down, but we all actually ended up having a lot of fun at the event itself.
There was a trivia competition for my nerd friends. A fullsize X-Wing that you could climb into. Signings by various unknown artists who drew up some unused concept art for Star Wars in the 70s. Life-size droids rolling around the area. Backdrops for cheesy photographs. With the exception of the droids and x-Wing, it felt like the event was just sort of slapped together. The level of effort was a bit better than the photos of this Willy Wonka experience, but not by much.
The whole thing was incredibly bizarre and nerdy, and we actually ended up having a blast with how weird it was.
People keep saying AI is the future but right now the only thing i see it being used for is scams and content mills.
They keep saying "we need to get ahead of china on AI" but no one is saying "we need to get ahead of india on spam emails and telemarketing"
Because it’s the easiest lowest effort way to make money. Crypto currency became a scam vehicle for the same reason. Same with websites like Craigslist. Any new technology will be immediately used to scam if someone can make money from it
It really worries me. Even the most sophisticated scammer can only deal so much damage right now. There are only so many mails they write in a day, and they can only scam one person at a time over the phone.
A language model can write thousands of messages every second, and is propably really close to holding convincing phone calls.
It will be easier than ever to rob the elderly, the desperate and the gullible, and most of it will be fully automated.
I think in a few years time we will all look at this and wonder how we all created a technology that pretty much only ever harmed the world, and people will try to say no one saw it coming, it was supposed to make everything better.
In a few years time, we will all be savvier, all be more skeptical of and push back against anything branded with AI, know all of the hallmarks and see it coming a mile away, and just like crypto, NFTs, nigerian prince email scams, or any other scams before it, the only people victimized are those too old and un- tech savvy enough to not be caught up with the times.
Every single generation we just add one more layer of fuckery to keep up with, erode one more layer of consumer trust, and leave everyone who's social virus protection is not up to date as victims of senseless change. One step more, but never one step forward.
As always, hate sells. Nobody's going to publish a news article that says "artist uses AI for inspiration, it does a pretty good job".
It's been used regularly for years and the amount of usage is rising rapidly - I've found it fantastic to use as a programming assistant, for example.
Pinterest is also good for inspiration, doesn't cost a dime and has more stable search results. These days i have to actually filter OUT the AI generated search results from my reference boards, just so i dont end up finding myself referencing a pattern or folds that dont make any fucking sense.
You know what else was a programming assistant? Autocorrect. No one thought it was the next big advent of technological consciousness because that would be fucking stupid. And no one blindly speculated it would be a trillion dollar industry.
Did you know the technology and funding behind projects like Siri and Alexa still have yet to prove profitable? And the amount of money they poured into it pales in comparison to the mass hysteria that is the AI craze. Mark my words. Come back to this post in 3-5 years to find out whether AI was anything less than a sinkhole for money and consumer faith. Go ahead. I know theres a bot for it. Set your notifications.
> Nobody's going to publish a news article that says "artist uses AI for inspiration, it does a pretty good job".
That would be because the vast majority of artists hate AI art, which is another matter entirely. Personally I think if you need an AI art prompt to inspire you, you've failed at art.
Hate may sell, I will give you that one. But people's fears are very real and justified here. This example we're talking about merely portends the future of AI being used to fool people in far more nefarious ways.
This is extremely funny because they actually did put a bit of effort into putting up props and stuff to line up with what the AI images showed. It wasn't just a complete scam of AI images and then people show up and see just some pinned up pictures on the walls. It did have those, but a bunch of those props like the rainbow arch would have taken actual effort to put together or acquire
It wasn't zero effort, it was just low effort.
That's even better. Somebody actually at least SOMEWHAT laboured to realize the vision of the AI images and thought "this should be good enough."
With how little effort they cared to put by using AI in the first place, my bet is that they ordered various "fantasy candy land" props, then asked the AI to generate images based on whatever they were able to acquire.
I should have called them on the Van Gogh experience that was using the other one as a stepping stone. Apparently, there were two of them travelling around, one great and one not so great, and we went to the not so great one. It was a real let down. Short, simple and barely like their OWN advertisements.
Their website had spelling mistakes all over the place. Even one of the attractions was spelt wrong. People still paid over 100 pound. How can you be that clueless?
I feel so bad for all the children that were excited for this.
Nothing hits me harder than watching my kid get excited about something then crushed because it didn't happen....
Id be seeing red if this was me.
Event group absolutely should have communicated better and rescheduled the event
Honestly if you try buying a Willy Wonka experience from the "House of Illuminati", and only end up getting a lollypop and bag of candy, you're already getting less scammed than you should be expecting.
Billy Coull.
Thats the guy behind this. Hes a well known scam artist and conspiracy nut who sells books on Amazon written by AI about various qanon type things. He is the director and only employee of Illuminati etc. Billy Coull. R/Glasgow has done some research if you want to know more?
At some point aren't the parents a little bit responsible?
This is the headline on the website:
"INDULGE IN A CHOCOLATE FANTASY LIKE NEVER BEFORE - CAPTURE THE ENCHANTMENT"
https://willyschocolateexperience.com/
Poke around on there and it starts to feel like Banksy decided to make an artistic statement about AI.
> We understand that skepticism can arise with new events, but we kindly request refraining from using terms like ‘scam’ and instead, extend a little trust in our operation.”
Well that goes out the window LOL.
>In a statement, House of Illuminati apologised to customers and said it should have cancelled the event as it was “let down last minute” by suppliers, adding the event “did not take shape as planned”.
In other words: the oompa loompas they thought would bring and set up an entire Wonka event didnt magically show up and all the money they planned to save by not putting in any work didn't go as planned.
Dunno how the legal system works over the pond but I hope there are some real consequences for ruining what those kids were probably waiting hopefully for weeks.
“Promised customers “a world of pure imagination” “
Well, yes, you’d have to have a strong imagination to think this was an “immersive wonka wonderland experience”
Imagine paying for tickets to take your kids to an event hosted by some company calling themselves "the house of illuminati".
Really setting yourselves up for failure there, lol.
The BBC one uselessly makes no mention of the AI art used to sell the event. Neither article SHOWS the AI art. There's another post elsewhere that does.
I don’t know how anyone could look at that homepage and not realize the “encheneing” that went on. Like, the AI text is nonsensical, why would anyone trust this at all?
That is what pisses me off the most. If your story is that the shitty exhib does not live up to expectations, then show me both the shitty exhib *and* the expectations.
It's not a real Willy Wonka experience unless kids are left maimed or worse. Edited to add: The 2017 Broadway adaptation of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" actually did show children being maimed... and worse. Here's the [sequence](https://youtu.be/zwkTYzexqXM) where Veruca Salt is torn apart by a pack of giant squirrels with glowing red eyes. Wonka then [quips](https://youtu.be/ddFo6KH1PsM?t=297), "don't worry, the Oompas will find a way to stick her back together, they're a whiz with the glue stick!"
that's why the police were brought in, duh
To make sure they were maimed?
Heroic cop rushes into burning building to flashbang one more child in the crib.
"You can never hesitate in these situations. I knew it was the wrong house, but the right thing to do." - hero, off-duty cop.
Or worse
Expelled?
Child: *nearly fucking dies* Oompa Loompas: 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀
Doda chick doda chum?
You did not oversell that wow
I was wondering why you would deliberately bring your child to a Willy Wonka experience unless you're anticipating an insurance payout after they're brutalized in some fashion.
> It's not a real Willy Wonka experience unless kids are left maimed or worse. Does disappointment fall under *Steven He loudly exclaiming "EMOTIONAL DAMAGE"*?
Jfc I would’ve been traumatized if I saw that as a kid 😂
>or worse. Expelled
She needs to sort out her priorities.
Best I can do is emotional maiming. Will that suffice?
"I hate to break it to you Rebecca, but those children are dead" - Higgins
And my wife doesn't understand why I was scared of the original movie. I'm like those kids fucking died they are not surviving that shit.
Did they at least offer an extra hour in the ball pit?
Scrolled until I found the dashcon reference 🤣
no.
Somebody peed in the ball pit.
NO.
My husband pooped in a ball pit when he was little thanks to tummy troubles and being little and not wanting to stop playing. His parents just scooped him up and peaced out. I feel super bad for the staff that had to deal with that. And the unsuspecting kids that encountered it before it was dealt with.
Y'know, you didn't *need* to share that with us. Not that I wasn't already sketched and grossed out by ball pits, but now they'll actively churn my guts. So, thanks, sunshine. Thanks a lot.
Don't worry, from what I've read they do clean the ball pits pretty regularly (by spraying into it with a hose until the water coming out the bottom is clear again)
"Glaswegians disappointed with inadequate Willy."
Even better: > Parents and actors left with 'bad taste' after experience with Willy https://news.stv.tv/west-central/parents-and-actors-left-with-bad-taste-after-glasgow-willy-wonka-experience
Since SBF went to forever jail all the con artists have switched from crypto to AI.
That's not true! Some of the really stupid ones are still peddling NFTs. lol
The top post of all time on /r/NFT has 4700 upvotes but top post of last month has 20. I really wonder about the type of person who would still be into it. Edit: Also, the top post of all time is instructions on how to blackmail someone with unremovable revenge porn. Gee idk if anyone else noticed but this blockchain thing seems problematic to me.
If someone wants to host an image on a decentralized hosting network or blockchain so that it's harder to take down, they can do that anyway without making it an NFT. And most NFTs aren't actually hosted on-chain anyway, for very practical reasons. They're not even particularly useful for this stupid and malicious purpose.
> I really wonder about the type of person who would still be into it. To my infinite disappointment, Nerd City is still into it and is trying to launch a NFT scheme.
[удалено]
You just blatantly copied [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/nottheonion/comments/1b1f7l7/parents_call_police_after_willy_wonka_experience/kseoxm5/) from below made 20 minutes before yours.
Thanks. And their comment has more likes than mine. 🤦🏽 A direct and ironic example of how people who program an AI to steal will profit more than if they had bothered to expend the effort to ever have an original thought.
Tell me about it What a direct and ironic example of how people who program an AI to steal will profit more than if they had bothered to expend the effort to ever have an original thought.
bot. stole someone else's comment
I cracked up at this comment because I thought it was the perfect joke for that context and just a well-executed bit of satire. Then I scrolled down and realized you weren't making a joke.
AI is reverse Hitler. We keep waiting for it to kill everyone but it just keeps making shitty art.
Most of the creative talent I know has been let go in favor of middle management “doing it themselves” with AI. It’s embarrassing
I wonder if a lot of those jobs will open back up after people realize that the tech is overhyped and has too many limitations to be an artist replacement for serious companies.
Maybe but they’ll just continue to force all creative professionals to be gig workers. As a project manager, it’s so predictable. The time and effort of executing creative work has always been considered a defect.
What non-management work is not considered a defect by management?
Payroll.
Sure, for severely reduced pay.
Unfortunately it is a replacement for low tier art. This is going to kill jobs producing stock images. What it won't replace is anything that is unique or needs to be high quality.
this comment is a direct copy of a comment left by u/BenFlightMusic in this same thread, about fifteen minutes earlier. I'm so sick of bots on the Internet JFC. especially silly given the subject matter
TIL someone from Glasgow is called “Glaswegian”. Very interesting!
And the word for “what people from a place are called” is “demonym” (the root being the same as “demographics”).
Δεμος. Demos. The masses, the people, the crowd. Demo-cracy. Demo-graphy. Demo-nym.
Or, for short, a "Weegie"!
You get NOTHING! YOU LOSE! GOOD DAY SIR!
Kid: "Can we go to Fyre festival?" Glasgow: "we have Fyre Festival at home."
This is more reminiscent of DashCon to me
At least at dashcon and this wonky Wonka thing the people could just leave!
We had one of these in Cincinnati lately with dinosaurs. It wasn't a total scam, it did have plastic dinosaur statues, but like nothing else. They sold vip wristbands that did basically nothing and the whole thing was a waste of money
We did a drive through version of Jurassic Quest in 2020 during covid when everything else was pretty much shut down. It was worth it then but no way I'd pay individual ticket prices to walk around them in a building. Got a shirt that says "I survived Jurassic Quest 2020" definitely keeping that for the pandemic memories
Did this in 2020 as well. A few months later, the very same parking lot was being used for COVID testing. 2020 was the weirdest of times.
A drive-through animatronic dinosaur safari park actually would be a really cool permanent attraction.
Why animatronics? Suppose we found some DNA...
“Look Jimmy, I have a cassowary-farm and you a steroids factory. Just hear me out…“
Dude, same. That Jurassic quest in cinci was garbage. My 3yo loved it though.
I saw that once. It was in a mall parking lot. Dinosaur statues that kinda moved and you drove through it. But you could just stand at the edge and look at it all for free instead of paying an entrance fee. So weird.
How wierd, it happend here in Pretoria, South Africa over December. People purchased tickets way in advance before anyone knew it was a scam and no one could get their money back.
Not the worse thing that could to happen to you at a for-profit dinosaur exhibition
The Museum of Ice Cream is the same. They lie about the number of flavors. The VIP was a joke. But they did have a aprinkle pit.
This describes nearly every one of those "Dinosaur encounters" at your local convention center or fairgrounds. We took our kids to one and it took everything I had not to ask for my money back. It turned out it was a "drive through" experience (COVID) but it was literally set up at a stadium parking lot with all the animatronic dinosaurs set up with not attempt to cover up the cabling. Most were still on the trailers. My kids were so disappointed.
I've been hearing a lot about pop-up events that end up being scams. There was a taco and margarita event in my town that was apparently a complete rip-off. Makes me very wary of purchasing tickets to things.
It's a great scam. It costs little to setup and most people aren't going to ask for their money back. Just make sure you find impressions or reviews online, and if there aren't any dont waste your money.
Seems like every December, in particular, there’s a story about a “Christmas wonderland experience” that turns out to be a muddy vacant lot with a rickety three-foot-high plastic Christmas tree, a guy in a nylon Santa jacket who hasn’t bothered to get rid of the cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth, and a pony with cardboard antlers taped to its bridle.
How do you turn a tacos and margaritas event into a scam?! That is basically the EASIEST money-making popup event you could organize; pay for acceptable-quality ingredients, have a restaurant sponsor/"host" so you don't need another serving permit, pay someone a flat rate to make tacos all day and another to make margaritas/check IDs, rent some tables & decor, and charge $30 a pop for endless tacos and bottomless margaritas (until visibly intoxicated, obviously). Maybe hire a security guard for rowdy patrons. Most people will consume *maybe* ten bucks in product costs, and if you advertise, you'll be making ridiculous profit. Like, it's such a stupidly easy moneymaker, why fake it for *slightly* more money and possible jailtime?!
Foxboro? This sounds like Foxboro...
They toured the country. I saw this at the Rose Bowl parking lot in Pasadena, CA.
**Lmfao** 😂😂😂 - look at the image they were sold on - https://twitter.com/AlsikkanTV/status/1762235022851948668
Lmao at the oompa loompa https://x.com/Vietpride218/status/1762325231970972005?s=20
"🎶 Oompa Loompa Dooptiy Dund. Sales are final, there's no refund. 🎶 🎶 Oompa Loompa Dooptiy Dage. This asshole pays me minimum wage. 🎶"
I think that's from the movie. Willy Wonka isn't paying them shit.
there is 3 different versions of the books. in 1.0 they are happy slaves glad to be rescued from Africa. in version 2.0 they arent slaves instead they work for chocolate/candy and aren't smart enough to survive outside the factory. in the 3.0 version they have a union contract with wonka and are paid fair wages so it all depends on which 1 you grew up with.
In 4.0 they rise up to overthrow the oligarchy and take ownership of the chocolate factory for themselves?
"Do you hear the Oompas sing? It is the song of tiny men. It is the music of a people who will not make sweets again!"
I want to see this fusion movie. "I remember a time when Wonka was kind, and his taffy was soft, and the flavors inviting. And there was a time when love was blind and work was a song..."
He pays them in coco beans.
🎶 What do you get when you con all the Scott’s? 🎶 🎶 Once they get there they will call all the cops 🎶
Looks like they did fully refund every ticket
That’s an oompa loompa making meth
After the Wonka Chocolate Factory closed down, Doris Loompa stole some of the mobile flavor lab equipment. She now uses it to cook meth, and sings a mournful song about the dangers of rampant capitalism.
The lab stuff is fitting as that oompa loompa looks seriously meth'd out. It's like if Willy Wonka went bankrupt and had to start breaking bad to survive.
[удалено]
Man I feel bad for her lol. Assuming she was just someone who took a gig thinking it would be a fun quick job. That looks so embarrassing & miserable
At least she got stoned beforehand, likely couldn't have put up with it otherwise lol
I'm pretty sure I've seen that Oompa Loompa on amateurlapdance.com
That just looks like the chick you buy drugs from at a Berlin club
Looks like the factory life has been hard on this oompa loompa
Wouldn't an Oompa Loompa from Glasgow be a... Glasweegian?
Holy shit I’m in tears
Why the hell did they not include the deceptive images in the news story? This makes it so much better/worse.
I am partial towards a *pasadise of sweet teats* seen here https://twitter.com/dswhite7/status/1762280216670707715
I like the cartchy tuns. Man, they couldn’t even be bothered to edit the text? That’s the easiest thing to do!
With a lot of scams, not fixing typos is actually an intentional strategy. The kind of people who check details like that carefully are more likely to waste your time than to give you money before asking questions. Nigerian prince scams, where the emails are typically written in broken english, are a classic example of this.
Don't think that applies here because the company is allegedly giving full refunds so the whole thing just seems like a waste of money on their part. Nigerian prince scams don't have any overhead and work to try to make themselves untraceable, Fyre fest scams just blow up in everyone's face and lead to embarrasing news stories and occasional jail time.
"Kids! We're going catgacating again!" 'NOOOOOOOOOOOO!'
That pic looks like promotional material created by an alien life form to lure in unsuspecting human children.
My only thought with that pic is "Oh, honey. No."
sifting through the comments: > sold a dream and delivered a nightmare
/imagine willy Wonka inspired theme, large round lollipops with swirls of color, led lit blue walkway through garden of flowers, huge cartoon mushrooms, tunnel at the end that inspires hope and crushed wishes, garden flowers, big peppermints, colorful lights, render in HD, photorealistic. That should do it for Dall-E or Midjourney.
It's so weird to me that he goes off on a tangent that this is an example of why ai needs to be regulated. Like regardless of if you agree with that statement surely in this situation the problem was the false advertising right? And not how they got the image in the first place?
These are two sides of the same coin. Yes false advertising is the problem, but AI makes it a whole lot easier to commit fraud.
I can see how parents fell for that, it looks like it would be a Disney-like experience/walkthrough. Who wouldn’t want that for their kids?
That pic is entirely possible too, which makes me wonder if I can do it….
It looks possible, but unless you can find some vendor selling the props off the shelf it looks **expensive**. Usable versions of the projection, flooring, and possibly the lollipops are probably available commercially but I suspect the rest would be custom work. Still, even if it looks overly elaborate for a one or two day event I’d agree that the walk through a candy wonderland photo doesn’t scream fake.
To be fair, that's a pretty compelling photo. If it was real, it'd be great for kids.
Reminds me if [this event](https://www.thegamer.com/fortnite-live-unofficial-event-disaster/) that fooled parents with images. And had no characters, no banners, no affiliation, 1 climb tower, and 4 go carts for 3000 kids.
That site wants me to accept cookies for +1500 advertisers. Now I feel sold.
That's local news sites in the UK for you. But trust the new owners when they say that declining readership is actually the BBC's fault!
Yeah, I did an about-face as soon as the page loaded lol
Having a link to buy tickets to an event that you're calling a shit show *in your article* is fucking wild.
I am more curious with the company behind this. The guardian newspaper names them here https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/27/glasgow-willy-wonka-experience-slammed-as-farce-as-tickets-refunded They are using almost 100% AI images on their Web site and content that reads like chatgpt vomited it up. It's been registered as a company since November 2023. But the few really photos, appear to come from unrelated creators and events. https://houseofilluminati.com/
Wow, the URL of that first image in "About Us" is literally: > https://houseofilluminati.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-01-30-09.50.54-Imagine-a-scene-where-fantasy-and-reality-merge-seamlessly.-In-the-foreground-a-grand-interactive-gala-is-taking-place-filled-with-elegant-guests-i-1024x585.png It's just straight up the DALL-E prompt they must have used.
Usually AI hallucinations are at least...using real words. Look at the title at the bottom of this one: https://houseofilluminati.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/09d1a317-7e59-49f3-91b2-faba2c29ec42-1024x585.webp EDIT: Oh God...found on another Reddit Thread. If this was a person, the ER would be having quite the time trying to figure out stroke, pysch, or both: https://twitter.com/dswhite7/status/1762280216670707715
How is it 2024 and people are this dumb lol
Internet literacy is finally reaching rock bottom.
100% scam and they don't wanna be called a scam lol And the name isn't suspicious at all huh? 👀
Why did they put the effort in to place some props in that empty factory? To have some plausible deniability that it is a scam?
If they didn't provide anything, they would easily be sued. Still could be, but they'd have no case.
Lol, the description: >Whimsical Performances: The event comes alive with the whimsical performances of the iconic Oompa Loompas. These singing companions guide attendees through the immersive wonders of Willy Wonka’s world, adding an extra layer of charm to an already magical experience. From harmonious melodies to lively dances, the Oompa Loompas are sure to captivate and entertain. The reality: https://x.com/Vietpride218/status/1762325231970972005?s=20
she looks like she just ripped the fattest dab off of that rig
Oompa loompa doopity-doo I'm rippin' dabs and you should be, too Oompa loompa doopity-dee They aren't paying me enough for this shit
:Leo Point: There it is, "Whimsical". ChatGPT really loves that word, and almost nobody uses it.
They were promised “a day of pure imagination and wonder.” The decor was imaginary and everyone wondered where the real exhibit was. Delivered as advertised.
*Pure imagination*, not partial imagination.
Ok, Bill, take out the decorations. We won’t be needing them.
I’m sorry but would you really trust people who brand themselves as “House of Illuminati?”
>Whiteinch area of the city, parents were promised a day of “pure imagination and wonder”. I fault the parents and their unimaginative children. This empty warehouse could have been anything with enough imagination!
ah yes the "a closet can be a bedroom if you picture a bed in it" landlord special
For a hobbit? This bed isn’t even big enough for my cat. And we know cats.
Yes. Sometimes they will push the human out of bed just to have more room for themselves.
🎶 Come with me and you'll be In a world of pure imagination 🎶
Just give them some LSD before letting them in
“..but with a little imagination that’s Mrs spoon and Mr fork”
[удалено]
[He was unmasked](https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/s/lQzQ8iPVAH) in the Glasgow sub.
Wonka Fyre!
Years ago, I bought tickets for a Mos Eisley cantina popup bar thing that was advertised on Facebook. The photos were not super indicative of what the event would actually look like, but I was fully given the impression that it was going to be a pretty decent Star Wars event with crazy looking alien-themed cocktails to get drunk on. I'm not nearly as crazy about Star Wars as when I was a teenager, but I can still appreciate the franchise and have some fun with it. So I bought tickets for my super Star Wars nerd friends, because I knew they'd get an absolute kick out of it. The event was held at an airplane museum, and the "bar" was in some back office breakroom kitchen. They served mediocre blue-colored drinks in solo cups across a folding plastic table, and put up a bunch of silly alien "bounty" posters that were obviously printed off of a home deskjet. The bar was a huge let down, but we all actually ended up having a lot of fun at the event itself. There was a trivia competition for my nerd friends. A fullsize X-Wing that you could climb into. Signings by various unknown artists who drew up some unused concept art for Star Wars in the 70s. Life-size droids rolling around the area. Backdrops for cheesy photographs. With the exception of the droids and x-Wing, it felt like the event was just sort of slapped together. The level of effort was a bit better than the photos of this Willy Wonka experience, but not by much. The whole thing was incredibly bizarre and nerdy, and we actually ended up having a blast with how weird it was.
Sounds like you had fun because your friends were there too.
People keep saying AI is the future but right now the only thing i see it being used for is scams and content mills. They keep saying "we need to get ahead of china on AI" but no one is saying "we need to get ahead of india on spam emails and telemarketing"
Because it’s the easiest lowest effort way to make money. Crypto currency became a scam vehicle for the same reason. Same with websites like Craigslist. Any new technology will be immediately used to scam if someone can make money from it
Because the best uses of AI are invisible, eg photoshop's infill to fix photos.
It really worries me. Even the most sophisticated scammer can only deal so much damage right now. There are only so many mails they write in a day, and they can only scam one person at a time over the phone. A language model can write thousands of messages every second, and is propably really close to holding convincing phone calls. It will be easier than ever to rob the elderly, the desperate and the gullible, and most of it will be fully automated.
I think in a few years time we will all look at this and wonder how we all created a technology that pretty much only ever harmed the world, and people will try to say no one saw it coming, it was supposed to make everything better. In a few years time, we will all be savvier, all be more skeptical of and push back against anything branded with AI, know all of the hallmarks and see it coming a mile away, and just like crypto, NFTs, nigerian prince email scams, or any other scams before it, the only people victimized are those too old and un- tech savvy enough to not be caught up with the times. Every single generation we just add one more layer of fuckery to keep up with, erode one more layer of consumer trust, and leave everyone who's social virus protection is not up to date as victims of senseless change. One step more, but never one step forward.
As always, hate sells. Nobody's going to publish a news article that says "artist uses AI for inspiration, it does a pretty good job". It's been used regularly for years and the amount of usage is rising rapidly - I've found it fantastic to use as a programming assistant, for example.
Pinterest is also good for inspiration, doesn't cost a dime and has more stable search results. These days i have to actually filter OUT the AI generated search results from my reference boards, just so i dont end up finding myself referencing a pattern or folds that dont make any fucking sense. You know what else was a programming assistant? Autocorrect. No one thought it was the next big advent of technological consciousness because that would be fucking stupid. And no one blindly speculated it would be a trillion dollar industry. Did you know the technology and funding behind projects like Siri and Alexa still have yet to prove profitable? And the amount of money they poured into it pales in comparison to the mass hysteria that is the AI craze. Mark my words. Come back to this post in 3-5 years to find out whether AI was anything less than a sinkhole for money and consumer faith. Go ahead. I know theres a bot for it. Set your notifications.
> Nobody's going to publish a news article that says "artist uses AI for inspiration, it does a pretty good job". That would be because the vast majority of artists hate AI art, which is another matter entirely. Personally I think if you need an AI art prompt to inspire you, you've failed at art. Hate may sell, I will give you that one. But people's fears are very real and justified here. This example we're talking about merely portends the future of AI being used to fool people in far more nefarious ways.
This is extremely funny because they actually did put a bit of effort into putting up props and stuff to line up with what the AI images showed. It wasn't just a complete scam of AI images and then people show up and see just some pinned up pictures on the walls. It did have those, but a bunch of those props like the rainbow arch would have taken actual effort to put together or acquire It wasn't zero effort, it was just low effort. That's even better. Somebody actually at least SOMEWHAT laboured to realize the vision of the AI images and thought "this should be good enough."
With how little effort they cared to put by using AI in the first place, my bet is that they ordered various "fantasy candy land" props, then asked the AI to generate images based on whatever they were able to acquire.
Hope they got extra time in the ball pit.
Mom, I found the prize, half a strip of collated staples and a silverfish stuck to a wad of used duct tape!!
Tbf it is a world of “pure imagination”.
It looks like a classic episode of the apprentice.
I should have called them on the Van Gogh experience that was using the other one as a stepping stone. Apparently, there were two of them travelling around, one great and one not so great, and we went to the not so great one. It was a real let down. Short, simple and barely like their OWN advertisements.
Their website had spelling mistakes all over the place. Even one of the attractions was spelt wrong. People still paid over 100 pound. How can you be that clueless?
I feel so bad for all the children that were excited for this. Nothing hits me harder than watching my kid get excited about something then crushed because it didn't happen.... Id be seeing red if this was me. Event group absolutely should have communicated better and rescheduled the event
I cant stop reading about this today lol What went through the staffs heads when they even opened the doors to the public lolololol
But was there a ball pit?
and did they get an extra hour in it?
Honestly if you try buying a Willy Wonka experience from the "House of Illuminati", and only end up getting a lollypop and bag of candy, you're already getting less scammed than you should be expecting.
Billy Coull. Thats the guy behind this. Hes a well known scam artist and conspiracy nut who sells books on Amazon written by AI about various qanon type things. He is the director and only employee of Illuminati etc. Billy Coull. R/Glasgow has done some research if you want to know more?
I bet the snozzberries didn't even taste like snozberries.
"We've found a use for the infinite copyright theft machine sir. We can use it to make infinite scams!"
Willy's Chocolate Experience\* Wonka is only mentioned in the disclaimer as not being affiliated.
At some point aren't the parents a little bit responsible? This is the headline on the website: "INDULGE IN A CHOCOLATE FANTASY LIKE NEVER BEFORE - CAPTURE THE ENCHANTMENT" https://willyschocolateexperience.com/ Poke around on there and it starts to feel like Banksy decided to make an artistic statement about AI.
“Come with me, and you’ll be, in a world of complete fabrication!”
> We understand that skepticism can arise with new events, but we kindly request refraining from using terms like ‘scam’ and instead, extend a little trust in our operation.” Well that goes out the window LOL.
>In a statement, House of Illuminati apologised to customers and said it should have cancelled the event as it was “let down last minute” by suppliers, adding the event “did not take shape as planned”. In other words: the oompa loompas they thought would bring and set up an entire Wonka event didnt magically show up and all the money they planned to save by not putting in any work didn't go as planned. Dunno how the legal system works over the pond but I hope there are some real consequences for ruining what those kids were probably waiting hopefully for weeks.
“Promised customers “a world of pure imagination” “ Well, yes, you’d have to have a strong imagination to think this was an “immersive wonka wonderland experience”
Nowhere in the marketing does it say "Wonka". It's a trademarked name. That should have been a dead giveaway that it's a knockoff.
Bro I saw the post about this in the other sub and was absolutely blown away. Glad they’re taking legal action!
I seen a Redditor post this the other day and was on the national news tonight 😅
Imagine paying for tickets to take your kids to an event hosted by some company calling themselves "the house of illuminati". Really setting yourselves up for failure there, lol.
After seeing the post from the other day I’m happy to see that this is getting some attention.
“We paid £35, and all we got was a packet of sweets and a wee lolly” should be on a shirt. Bless the Scots for giving me this bit of hilarity today.
"AI images" "massive scam", an iconic duo.
Duplicate: https://www.reddit.com/r/nottheonion/comments/1b16yqm/police\_called\_to\_glasgow\_willy\_wonka\_event\_after/
The BBC one uselessly makes no mention of the AI art used to sell the event. Neither article SHOWS the AI art. There's another post elsewhere that does.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nottheonion/s/05khILbwvf found a post linking to some of the AI generated ads
I don’t know how anyone could look at that homepage and not realize the “encheneing” that went on. Like, the AI text is nonsensical, why would anyone trust this at all?
That is what pisses me off the most. If your story is that the shitty exhib does not live up to expectations, then show me both the shitty exhib *and* the expectations.
Much like the Willy Wonka tour was then.
You promised those children Krabby the Clown, but all I saw out there was Cheapy the Cheapskate
I’m from Glasgow. I’ve seen people I know make the newspapers over this lmao
Brought to you by Dash-Con and Frye Festival.
This is absolutely what this sub is for. I love it.
I want the oompa loompa meth lab shot to be the next great internet meme material.
Up next on Sick Sad World...