Amul responds to viral 'Sharam' cheese pic: 'Made using AI for misinformation'

The viral AI-generated image showed a packet of 'Sharam' cheese. (Image credit: @Amul_Coop/X)

Amul on Wednesday issued an alert over a morphed image doing the rounds on the internet purportedly featuring a packet of “Sharam” cheese with the dairy products giant’s branding.

“The creator of the post has made the creative and posted this without any authorisation from Amul,” Amulsaid in a statement.

“We notice in the post that the pack has been developed using AI (artificial intelligence) and is using the Amul brand name poorly and is disparaging.”

The viral image shows mustard yellow packet with Amul written on top and “Sharam” written in a bigger font, followed by “Cheese”. The following text is in Urdu. “Sharam” in Hindi and Urdu means shame.

The morphed image contains text which is a play on the commonly used Hindi line, “Sharam naam ki cheez nahi hai”, which means, “There’s no such thing as shame”.

Amul urged people to share its alert with others as well as report to the company if they have any complaints.

“This post has been used to create misinformation and spread unnecessary fear and concern among consumers,” Amul said.

ISSUED IN PUBLIC INTEREST BY AMUL pic.twitter.com/VjDQXtE6VF

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— Amul.coop (@Amul_Coop) December 20, 2023

Among those who reacted to Amul’s clarification was Paytm chief Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who wrote a cheeky comment in Hindi: “Sharam naam ki koi cheez nahi hoti hai (There’s no such thing as shame.)”

As AI has boomed, so has its misuse, with hyper-realistic images and videos created with minimal effort and money.

In May, Amul responded to a viral video showing alleged fungus in some packs of Amul Lassi. The Gujarat-headquartered FMCG brand dismissed it as fake and assured consumers of their commitment to quality.