Just Eat, AI Menu Images and the Cost of Getting It Wrong

It's almost Halloween, and apparently Just Eat decided to contribute to the NIGHTMARE FUEL.

So, I was on my way to reformer Pilates, listening to Mini Scroll catch me up on the weekend's stories.

And one story in particular…

Just… WOW.

Just Eat wanted to help smaller, independent restaurants that might not have the budget for professional food photography.

Good idea, right?

Their solution? AI-generated menu images.

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

Well…

Tiger prawns became actual baby tigers in sauce.

Toad in the Hole became an actual toad emerging from dirt.

And a Garlic Bread Plane became an aeroplane made of bread.

All I could hear was the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme playing in my head.

But from a marketing perspective, here's where it gets interesting.

Just Eat tried to solve one problem and potentially created TWO more.

First, for smaller restaurants.

Imagine working hard to build your restaurant's reputation, only for the platform you rely on to represent your food with something that looks like it escaped from a fever dream.

Customers could question the quality of your food or simply order somewhere else.

Second, for Just Eat itself.

Instead of being recognised for helping independent restaurants, they became the punchline.

And here's the part that gets me.

Just Eat says every AI-generated image was manually checked by a human before going live.

EXCUSE ME?!

So what exactly was being checked?

Yes, the images were labelled as AI-generated, but that doesn't mean they accurately represented the food.

Sure, the images went viral. People shared them, commented and laughed.

But attention doesn't automatically equal good marketing.

Just Eat has since apologised, started removing inaccurate images and paused the rollout.

What started as a well-intentioned idea became a lesson in brand trust, quality control and human judgement.

Not every problem needs an AI solution.

Sometimes you just need a photograph of a potato.

#Marketing #BrandTrust #GenerativeAI #BrandReputation #DigitalMarketing