How did the viral Willy Wonka experience go so wrong? | Hacker News Reader

How did the viral Willy Wonka experience go so wrong?

bbc.co.uk

47 pointsvijayr0270 comments

This happened to be an egregiously-bad example of these cheap, padded-out, pop-up shows that are everywhere.

Anything that isn't run by a major museum or gallery is highly suspect in my book. I recall a Tutankhamun show that I think had National Geographic's name slapped on it, somewhere in London Docklands, that was fairly lame, but nothing compared to the lameness of a Tutankhamun show going on in Hamburg right now which is mostly words printed on posters, with the main event being a large empty room with projections on all the walls. Barely amusing and mainly a good chance for a sit-down.

Similarly, there's a fake-o Body Worlds show going on, a bullshit Terracotta Army show on, and there's clearly money to be made.

The one experience I can remember that blew everything out of the water was the Millennium Dome in London, circa 2000, simply amazing and mind-blowing. I went twice. Truly amazing experiences like these cost a fortune and take a age, and require top-tier talent to put on. Just like a West End theatre production.

Apparently in Europe there's also a fake LotR/Harry Potter concert tour going on that stops mid-song half the time, because they haven't actually licensed the songs and are trying to muddle through with "fair use" (however that's even support to work here...)

If they are performing the songs live, they do not need a license in most european countries if it isn't recorded (not sure about UK though, i've heard its a bit weird up there for musicians). If they're just playing CDs, they might want to get a license, even with this "trick" that some bad DJs use.

BTW: good/known scenes have a license to play, not just perform, music live, so even that would be weird.

What exactly was the exhibition at London’s millennium dome that you remember being so good? Or are you simply talking about the millennium dome itself, which ultimately became a bit of a national joke here in the UK, as nobody really knew what to do with it for a few years after the millennium. In the end, it got rebranded as the O2 Arena, and now it does fairly well for itself as a place to host, concerts and live shows etc.

It wasn't an exhibition, but a whole series of zones that you could freely wander around in, each one a show in itself. I recall going through the learning zone, and seeing the huge doors where you could hear the headmaster yelling behind them, to remind you what it felt like to be at school, and then as we were moving through to the end of that space, the lighting all changed, the music shifted and the walls fell away to reveal a forest full of trees to everyone's delight. Extraordinary.

The musical acts that surprised us as we were walking between zones, the huge scale of the artworks and sculptures that we actually had to walk through, it was an absolute delight from start to finish. I had been given two tickets as a gift from a friend, and I took a mate who I didn't know super well, we had zero expectations and that day definitely helped turn us into very close friends - I was his best man a few years later. I then bought tickets and took my girlfriend, who was left speechless by it all (she was a trained actor) who then bought her own tickets and took her entire family there.

The dome suffered from the worst PR ever, and it was a national joke but only for people who hadn't read the book, so to say, people queuing up to criticise something in copycat fashion, but the joke was on them, it was amazing.

The budget for the show was there for a year and I'm sure it underperformed but I'm also sure it provided a seed for the success of things like the 2012 Olympics, which was simply amazing. It was empty for a while, and Crisis used it as a homeless shelter in 2003 I think, I was volunteering as a chef and we were in an annex outside the main building, catering for people with dependency problems, while my then-girlfriend was cooking at the main kitchen inside the actual dome. I took my skates and skated around the whole empty-ish structure, was very cool.

I seem to remember that Tutankhamun exhibition at the O2 (Millennium Dome still, back then?) being alright? The one back in '07-'08? I'm not sure they had the main golden casket, but the artefacts they found in the tomb were fascinating.

I know I was astounded by some of the techniques they used and the expertise and craft with which they were made all the way back when.

You are largely right, but they had advertised it visually very differently - on what people could expect to see - and for the price it really wasn’t better value than a special exhibition at the BM. I’m clearly still sore about it almost twenty years later!

This seems about as "not exactly as shown" as the video game box art of the 80s?

Some examples: https://retrovolve.com/the-strange-and-wonderful-world-of-at...

Look up the gameplay videos of any of those, and you may experience a similar feeling.

This was true even into the Game Boy Advance era (so the early 2000s). Have a look at how the box art for Mario Kart: Super Circuit compares to the actual graphics.

Admittedly, there was a general assumption that the box art (or even trailers) need not reflect the gameplay at all (and it was still a time when sufficiently high resolution graphics would be assumed to not be part of the actual game since it would be impossible), so there wasn't exactly much deception going on. But it could certainly still be disappointing if you're a child who doesn't quite know that. It's worth mentioning as well that the back of the box usually had some screengrabs to give an idea.

I remember those boxes. For the most part the VCS/2600 was so popular that most everyone knew what was what and that the box art was just that: art. There were few exceptions such as the infamous E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Pac-man was also a bad looking port, but playable and a commercial success.

The cynic in me is upset at how easily exploited people are, but the optimist in me is happy at how overwhelmingly good most people are. There are scores of people out there (most of us included) who have the skills to pull something like this or the gpt4-written books thing who choose not to.

Why blame the ai when in fact it was poorly executed obviously with insufficient budget?

AI art is the latest signifier of “too cheap to be legit” but it’s still new enough that the general public isn’t attuned to it.

That’s why that’s the angle the news channels take with it.

Wonder what a GenAI poster based on a description of Fyre Festival looks like...

A Hieronymus Bosch style panorama of performative sexual favours being exchanged for sustenance in a Mad Max landscape.

Mind you, that depends entirely upon which description is input.

Have you considered applying for an AI Prompt Engineer job?

I was told I'd be struck from the National Engineering Register (Australia) if I did ... <sad face>

Serious or joking?

Engineering™ is a serious business.

Those old timers are just jealous of the incumbents.

> A Hieronymus Bosch style panorama of performative sexual favours being exchanged for sustenance in a Mad Max landscape

I can see tickets for a festival with that poster selling well...

Are you telling me those tickets I bought for Fyre #### Festival are bogus?

I don't see that they're blaming GenAI, rather saying that AI now allows fraudsters to easily generate impressive-looking but completely fictitious marketing which then persuades people to spend thousands on tickets. Without that, he wouldn't have sold many tickets.

"The use of AI, both in marketing imagery and writing, appears to be a recurring theme of Billy Coull's recent business endeavours."

Fraudsters never had any problems doing that in the pre-generative AI era.

It makes it easier now, that doesn't mean it was impossible before.

Exactly the point. Now the scammers can easily fool and execute their confidence tricks to overpromise the world thanks to generative AI which can convince thousands of people to easily fall for their grift.

The website of the event promises such enchering entertainment as catgacatching, cartchy tuns and exarserday lollipops. Or you can visit the `Twilight tunnel, with it's engemic sounds and ukexpced twits. (DALL-E can't spell)

I don't think the fraudster is in any way more impressive than more traditional scams like the Nigerian prince.

Don't forget the pasadise of sweet teats!

I wonder if they deliberately left those red flags in as a filter, in the same way that the traditional scammers often add spelling and grammar errors. Those who spot the low-effort attempt know what they'll get and stay away, while those who don't may simply get what they deserved.

> Don't forget the pasadise of sweet teats!

...or the ukxepcted twits!

FFaaS

Fyre Festival as a Service

Now ! Improved with AI !

Removed age restrictions to extend to a more gullible market, sorry not intended for there to be any chocolate for the children.

Some people just can't make money unless "it's going to be as easy as taking candy from a baby".

Or the technology-enhanced equivalent.

Where are they blaming AI? They're just pointing out that the fellow behind this has a history of making books and artwork using AI, and using it to scam people. The mistake he made is overestimating AI and his own ability to bullshit around it.

Seeing how the organizer handed actors AI-written scripts, he obviously has a problem where he thinks AI can replace everything, including his own or others' hard work. I don't know what the right words are but someone needs to give him a wake-up call that AI is not going to be his ticket to not having to work for the rest of his life.

You can see from the decor that no effort was made on anything. The problem here is someone trying to make a quick buck not AI itself.

These kinds of scammers have tried to substitute hard work with literally anything they can get their hands on for their entire lives and never learn. They'll keep trying with whatever they can get their hands on.

But the guy on Youtube promised me that AI generated content would make me rich? /s

Pretty sure it didn't go wrong. The organizer got people's money on the cheap and that was the intention all along. It's pretty much the (im)moral of the 21st century.

Few people are asking why such a large proportion of the public are easily scammed, a status which is different to prior eras. The answer isn't education, fyi.

What is the answer, then?

I'm going to strongly question your presumption that present populations are more scammable than those past.

These people weren't scammed, they were defrauded. They were promised one thing and delivered another. The event organisers simply lied so as to inflate the price they could charge for a thing that was worth dramatically less (arguably nothing). The extent of that gap constitutes a form of theft, and the organisers should be charged accordingly.

The people who bought tickets weren't gullible or stupid, any more than you would be buying a ticket to a festival with your favourite bands only to rock up and find there are no bands. #fyrefestival

The people who bought tickets weren't gullible or stupid

Look at the marketing material on their website and ask yourself who wouldn't be suspicious upon seeing multiple nonsensical words:

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/764/707/40b

Maybe, but there's precedent:

    gadjama tuffm i zimzalla binban gligla wowolimai bin beri ban
    o katalominai rhinozerossola hopsamen laulitalomini hoooo
    gadjama rhinozerossola hopsamen
    bluku terullala blaulala loooo

~ Hugo Ball : https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/aug/31/hugo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1AmcBM5Ejg

What??! I thought that was Oompa Loompa!

The website had even more red flags than this.

How is it different from other eras? Take for example all the different prophets who had literally millions of people scammed since the dawn of history.

I yet have to find a non-overhyped and eventually disappointing event in the UK, to be honest. The only thing you can be certain of, is that you’ll pay a lot.

Incredibly accurate. I'd guess the rent/hire, wages and other costs for any event are so high, there's little left to make it a great experience

Also we're extremely gullible and will throw good money at anything, so why would a business person put any effort in?

Honestly the Harry Potter studio tour near London is a very nice experience.

And I'm not even particularly a fan of Harry Potter.

I went to this with my kids a couple of weeks ago and it was incredible. https://www.wakethetiger.com/

Secret cinema Bridgerton was good https://www.culturewhisper.com/r/cinema/secret_cinema_bridge...

i cant find the link but maybe in the guardian, a similar scam regarding christmas fair / santa grotto was funny to read.

Lapland new forest 2008? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-11842396

lol guess so, thanks! seems like history repeats itself!

Each year there's at least one 'winter wonderland' where the only entertainment is watching underpaid Elves smoking cigarettes behind a bin. It's a tradition at this point.

People are saying it’s a con by a fraudster but I get the sense that the organiser is potentially on the spectrum or otherwise at a disadvantage

One of the actors says the guy was just in over his head, but it isn't his first time organising a massively disappointing event! Making me think it is deliberate.

It’s probably a bit of both; the same guy is a prolific ‘author’ of 1 star AI generated books on Amazon.

Yes me too. Even if it did not meet the expectations by far, there must have been effort going into it. Providing a lacklustre experience is not fraud. A true fraudster would not have bothered.

As a side note, can we please stop using being on the spectrum as an excuse for everything?

Was not an excuse, just an observation. Would you have preferred a different phrasing?

Not sure how you conclude that the guy is on the spectrum: all I read is a guy using AI to create stuff with the goal of making a quick buco, no matter what.

Whether or not he's on the spectrum is as relevant as wether or not he is Scotish, a man or has a beard or not. He sure seems like a shaddy person so.

>Not sure how you conclude that the guy is on the spectrum

The same way you're concluding that this is a guy:

> with the goal of making a quick buco

...impression. You and I are reading this differently, which is fine - happens. Doesn't make my read any less valid than yours though, especially in fuzzy areas like motivations or spectrum.

Ye. I mean looking at the pics, this would easely pass as a local community thing for kids. It seems suprisingly ambitious given the accusation.

I guess the only problem is that they charged 2 or 3 tumes as much as people think it is worth.

If you live in a high cost of living area though, you have to pay marked price for scrappy things though. People can't have their cake and eat it too, where other people should work for pennies.

> While Generative AI can give everyone the confidence and the joy to create wonderful images, there is a big lesson in this story for all marketing teams: these tools must be used responsibly," she said

This is the most disgusting thing I've read all week.

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