Take this photo of a man seated in a 1989 McDonald's, wisps of smoke spiraling from his lit cigarette as he prepares to dig into a classic cheeseburger, fries, and soda.
Peak male specimen at McDonald’s. 1989. pic.twitter.com/aMbrSec9ia
— Grandaddy Jeff (@GrandaddyJeff) February 27, 2024
It's undeniably nostalgic, especially since the notion of smoking inside a McDonald's feels utterly alien in today's world. Yet, upon closer inspection, something seems off about this picture.
Firstly, why is this gentleman sporting a shirt with sleeves, yet his entire chest is exposed? And what's up with the oddly distorted Coca-Cola logo? Well, surprise, surprise—it's not a genuine photo from 1989; it's an AI-generated image.
From Western Journal:
Though the original tweet racked up over 22 million views, it didn’t take long for users to notice a few odd details about the image.
One user commented, “Why does his shirt have sleeves but no chest?” to which the original poster playfully replied, “Because he’s so manly that his chest hair overtook the cloth.”
More strange details become more obvious the closer you look: The sign in back of the picture reads “Modlidani” rather than McDonald’s. The logo on his cup is some garbled facsimile of Coca-Cola. The man’s fingers and hands are misshapen, and the face of the man sitting in the background is similarly squashed in unnatural ways.
In case it’s not yet obvious, the image was AI generated — something the original user actually happily admitted.
As Granddaddy Jeff, an artist in his own right, responded to a comment “you should see the Ronald McDonald rendered with this. Aint worried about AI taking my job.”
