Toronto Blue Jays Roasted for Posting AI Slop Promoting…

On September 3, 2026, the Toronto Blue Jays faced intense public scrutiny after sharing an animated promotional clip for a brand partnership with the Nestle-owned company Nestea. The social media post, which featured a style reminiscent of adult-oriented animation, was quickly identified by fans as low-quality generative AI content rather than professional human animation.

What happened

The promotional video contained numerous visual artifacts characteristic of poorly executed generative AI, including garbled text on trading card boxes and a baseball player depicted with three arms in a background poster. A community note was appended to the post to highlight these errors and challenge the team's assertion that a human artist had created the work. Despite the obvious flaws, the Toronto Blue Jays' official social media account responded to criticism by doubling down on their claim, stating, "This was made by a real animator."

This response triggered further outrage from fans and industry observers, who criticized the team for attempting to pass off "AI slop" as professional work. Commenters pointed out the lack of quality and argued that the team should have hired talented human animators instead of relying on automated tools. The incident serves as a prominent example of the growing backlash against the use of generative AI in creative industries, highlighting how organizations risk reputational damage when they attempt to use synthetic media as a cost-cutting measure while simultaneously misleading their audience about the origin of the content.