News Every Day | 05 January 2025, 15:00

‘I didn’t think it could get worse’: Walmart shopper picks up butter cookie tins from the shelf. Then she takes a closer look

A Walmart shopper believes the retailer is selling holiday offerings with AI-generated artwork.

Cosmic Heather (@cosmicdealheather) first spotted a popcorn tin sporting what she thought was an odd aesthetic. Upon a closer look, she speculated that its artwork was crafted by computer software and not a human hand.

Other users on the application, however, said the popcorn was just the tip of the AI iceberg.

Butter cookies

Heather posted a follow-up response video to one user who urged her to check butter cookie tins for artwork that's clearly AI-generated. They wrote, "No no, check out the butter cookie tins. I specifically bought one for my sister bc it's 'Santa's workshop.'"

However, the TikTok user continued to describe an image that takes a unique spin on Santa's aesthetic. "But Santa has 2 beards, no hands and all the background items are blended together," the comment read.

Heather records herself perusing Walmart shelves packed with holiday-themed snacks. She narrates, "This is bad. I didn't think it could get worse but you guys were right. The butter cookie tins at Walmart are way worse than the popcorn tins."

Next, she holds the tin up to the camera showing off a Santa Claus that's squatting a la vixen from the "Hotline Bling" video. Then, she questions the salacious pose.

"Because why is Santa throwing [expletive]?" she demands. She points out other weird design cues in the artwork.

"Why is he squatting on a table? Why does he look like he's about to twerk? What are...what is his hand doing? What is that?" she says.

Vague imagery

Following this, she notices some strange irregularities in the background artwork in the cookie tin's imagery. It indeed appears to be blended together.

"Look at the background, look at the windows, look how wonky that is. And what is this wall full of random things," she says. "Like can you make out what any of that is actually supposed to be?"

She then focuses on another area of the tin's artwork. While the colors and aesthetic are reminiscent of what classic holiday paintings would look like, there are no finer details. It's a blur of watered-down semi-nostalgia.

"It looks like there's cobwebs on the roof, whether that's intentional or not, I don't know. This is just straight-up AI slop," she claims. "No question about it."

Heather highlighted yet another discrepancy between the butter cookie and popcorn tins she noticed.

"And unlike the popcorn tins, there's no artist's signatures and no copyright information. So we can't really track down where these came from," she continues. "There were three other tins in this series, and my Walmart was moving all the Christmas stuff around. So I couldn't find the other 3, but luckily they had photos of them on the website."

At this point in the video, she shows off the other Christmas tins on Walmart's website. However, these images didn't seem to be as glaringly AI-generated.

"This house may or may not be AI-generated, I can't really tell from the image," she shares. "But I'm leaning towards AI because that doesn't look like a star on top. I have no idea what vehicle that's supposed to be. And the architecture on the house is a little weird."

The TikToker summed up the point of her video toward the end: "So that should tell you right there how much effort they put into these tins. Not much."

AI-generated artwork and products

This isn't the first time Walmart's name has been associated with AI-generated artwork. One could argue that a packaging's design for cookie tins matters less than the contents of its container. After all, the stars of the show are the treats inside. However, the same can't be said for posters of art created by a computer program selling for $22 apiece.

For example, a user's post that the Daily Dot covered in April 2024. The artwork in question shows a decorative bottle of a fragrance bottle surrounded by flowers. Clear spelling errors and characters that mimic the English alphabet are present in the image.

While controversial, it's understandable why businesses would opt for AI-generated artwork. Currently, there are no copyright laws for creative works produced with artificial intelligence. This means that any type of legal repercussions for using it is virtually zero.

Furthermore, the cost-benefit of utilizing AI software to make images is considerably more affordable than hiring a human artist. There are throngs of artists who have argued against its usage in a variety of mediums.

@cosmicdealheather Replying to @tsubaki_33 ho ho ho here’s more AI generated Christmas slop at Walmart #ai #aigenerated #aiart #aislop #corporategreed #latestagecapitalism #artist #arttok #artistsoftiktok #artcheck #wtf #weird #mildlyinteresting #mildlyinfuriating #explained #exposed #caughtin4k ♬ Nutcracker: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairly(845241) - ogsogs

TikTokers' 2-cents

One user said they couldn't understand the need for updated Christmas imagery in the first place. "I don't understand why they even need new images, Christmas hasn't really changed just use last year's art!" they wrote.

Another couldn't understand why it was so difficult for the company to at least spot-check the AI artwork. "Even if they used ai, was no one checking it or choosing designs? They just let ai choose?" they said.

A TikToker said they drew a hard line against artificial intelligence-created artwork. "Anything with ai art went back on the shelf this year," they wrote.

The Daily Dot has reached out to Walmart via email and Heather via TikTok comment.

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The post ‘I didn’t think it could get worse’: Walmart shopper picks up butter cookie tins from the shelf. Then she takes a closer look appeared first on The Daily Dot.