Cookware company includes artificial customer prompts in website | Hacker News Reader

Cookware company includes artificial customer prompts in website

thestaub.com

44 pointsechelon34 comments

I don't think this is actually created by the company that owns the brand, Zwilling J.A. Henckels. I think someone managed to get this domain and generated this page (rather quickly, it looks like) to try and make money via Amazon affiliate links. Interesting new strategy.

Very much seems to be the case

I saw this trending on Reddit and it looked interesting, but you're right - this isn't the brand at all.

I wish I could take the post down, as I didn't know that at the time I posted it.

Dang, can you remove this?

What? No! Don't take it down. This is interesting. Just change the title from "Cookware company" to "Fake cookware company" or something of the sort.

Thanks for posting!

A mod might remove it if enough people flag it. I think it's still interesting as an example of a new type of fraud, though. The site's been up since January of this year and Amazon and the actual owner of this brand don't seem to care. It's also the third result on Google for me for "Staub Cookware".

Yeah, probably right "thestaub.com" when there's e.g. https://www.zwilling.com/uk/staub/ or https://www.zwilling.com/us/staub/cast-iron/

Also, their "check price" links point to Amazon whereas the official pages let you add to cart directly:

https://www.zwilling.com/us/staub-cast-iron---braisers%2F-sa...

Interestingly, there seems to be another site for us customers that claims to be "official" and yet points to an Amazon store for prices:

https://www.usastaub.com/

And that one doesn't seem auto-generated.

Pages with this format -- let's call them marketing pages -- have always seemed to me a mix of 10% buzzword checklist and 90% Lorem ipsum. You scroll endlessly and there's just no content at all. Even programmer-focused project pages do this.

Now the Lorem ipsum is computer generated English instead of rote Latin, that's all.

Do fake customer testimonials qualify as fraud (civil and/or criminal) in any jurisdiction where they do business?

Also, I'm curious if OpenAI will start getting subpoenaed for prompt interactions.

The FTC Act prohibits "unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce." Means testimonials must be truthful and not misleading.

Oh my god... Even the photographs are AI-generated: https://thestaub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/st2.png (backup-link if they take it down: https://i.vgy.me/0MGC1u.jpg)

It's sad they used such a lame generator when Nvidia has had this near-perfect one for many years:

https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/

This page is an SEO spam site built for affiliates revenue not a marketing page for the brand.

What am I intended to note? That thier page has a button to take you to an amazon product page?

That would seem to make this post more like advertising spam rather than noteworthy.

I would be delighted to have missed something though.

The last paragraph of each "customer" quote reveals how they prompted the LLM:

Customer #1:

> The key focus areas in my revision were highlighting the enamel durability and quality over time, the passion for collecting different Staub pieces, the affordability of current deals, and how the enameled cast iron will get passed down for generations, retaining its value and performance. Please let me know if you would like me to modify anything!

Customer #2:

> I focused the testimonial on the durability of the enamel over years of use, the uniqueness of the 5 quart tall shape, how the rough handles shouldn’t deter people, and Staub’s reliability over other brands, especially for acidic ingredients like lemon. Please let me know if you would like me to modify the testimonial further!

Customer #3:

> I focused the testimonial on the Staub cocotte being the better option compared to Le Creuset, highlighted the materials, durability, performance for cooking, value over time as an heirloom, and overall superiority. Please let me know if you would like me modify or improve the testimonial further!

Not only the auto-generated the customer "tesimonials", they didn't even sanity-check them.

Also, the customer portraits are obvious Gen-AI'd.

Ah, thanks. I totally missed that.

The customer headshots also look eerily AI generated

It's so obvious, I'm assuming they should have been used as placeholders but someone forgot to replace them.

Here's another similar Staub affiliate site with the legendary Jane Doe, Professional Chef offering their approval. At least this one is up front that they're just in the affiliate advertising program.

https://www.usastaub.com/staub-cast-iron/

The fact that the website’s title is “The Cast Iron You Can Trust” brings this into cringe territory.

Unfortunately, I suspect many companies are (more successfully) displaying fake customer testimonials. It’s just too easy to do. Eventually people will learn to ignore them.

A shame too, because I love cast iron.

This sounds like it would give rise to a class action fraud claim by any customers that purchased these products based on these reviews.

What's more alarming is this site is pretty high up on google when you search for "Staub cast iron".

Tragic that whoever made it didn’t even read what they generated. They make nice cookware though…

Seconded. We love their stuff.

It is funny when people are just mindlessly cutting and pasting and there’s no QA or even reading their input.

In my day, I would at least read through everything my code had to produce and it was always funny to see the stuff that the BAs and QAs left in there. But I didn’t want my site to look stupid.

I prefer Le Crueset for one key reason: they are light colored on the interior surfaces rather than Staub’s black interiors. The light color allows me to much better see what is going on, particularly when browning.

It's also very hard to clean after you've used it for a few years (so I suppose it keeps a visual record of your cooking in distinct archeological strata... if only someone could separate them out).

In my experience the black interiors in Staub and Chasseur, which are not easier to clean, at least look brand new when you prime them with a little olive oil between cooking sessions. Which is a good idea generally, for cast iron, enameled or not.

Baking soda and hydrogen peroxide is what I use to clean enameled surfaces, including pots and my kitchen sink. Quite effective. Just never, ever use Comet cleanser or similar.

i just dont understand why theyve done this, staub already has a good reputation and there's a million genuine good testimonials out there to pick from. i definitely respect them a lot less now lol.

I think it's safe to assume somebody in management or marketing required the use of "AI" somehow.

I would assume that this site is completely unaffiliated with the Staub brand. Their official web site is here: https://www.zwilling.com/us/staub/

The links on the page all go to Amazon. This page looks like AI generated SEO spam that's set up with the intent to generate Amazon affiliate leads.

Collecting real testimonials requires more work than putting a prompt into ChatGPT. Seems like a simple case of bad laziness.

Le Creuset checks these details before publishing.

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