What was expected to be an immersive adventure through Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory turned into a lackluster stroll in an empty warehouse. With distressed children crying and flustered parents demanding refunds for the event hosted in Glasgow, Scotland, many have become captivated with what made this event such a catastrophe.
With the experience being organized by “House of Illuminati,” who published Artificial Intelligence generated photos as promotion for the event, it is clear that the event advertisements had intentions to deceive consumers. After all, the photos have no resemblance to the warehouse decoration. However, this disaster could have been avoidable with research or by simply looking at the photos.
In an age where advertising fraud rates were at 17.5% in the United Kingdom according to a 2021 study conducted by Statista Research Department, it is critical that consumers look into the credibility of an organization, especially if they have questionable promotion for their events. With spelling errors throughout the advertisements, it is hard to believe that attendees weren’t skeptical of the event. For instance, in their promotion depicting Wonka entering a threshold of creativity the title reads “Imagnation Lab” instead of “imagination.”
But that’s not even the worst part, in another promotion photo of the “Twilight Tunnel”, an attraction which was not even featured at the event, “descriptions” of the features were labeled as “lightng,” “dim tight,” “dippractions,” “vivue sounds,” “ungirevel,” “emprety,” “dimdicli,” “twdrding,” “dodjection,” “enigemic sounds,” “sviide” and “ukxepcted twits,” which aren’t even real words or phrases. So why were so many people scammed out of £35 believing this sketchy propaganda?
Well, in recent years numerous immersive experiences, such as Van Gogh and FRIENDS, have reached the calendars of people across the globe, inspiring others to attend “similar” events with their families. However, this false security of assuming Willy’s Chocolate Experience would be comparable to previous events has led many to aimlessly purchase tickets without researching the organizer ahead of time. Irresponsibly spending money on products or services without any thought is the main culprit to events such as this—one where people fail to realize the obvious flaws in the company’s marketing campaign, yet act astonished when the event serves rationed portions of jelly beans and lemonade.
While “House of Illuminati” should be held accountable for their deceptive business practices, it is imperative that as consumers we do our part in investigating the places we purchase from. Through reporting companies with misleading promotions and urging others to do the same, consumers can reduce their chances of being scammed and hold businesses accountable.
