“It’s All from the Same Factory” — Man Details Problem with Shopping on Amazon in 2024
"The AI photos and weird text in broken English always make me laugh 'other shirts are crunchy'…'ours soft luxury fabric'"
Published March 22 2024, 9:01 a.m. ET
If you've ever searched for a product type on Amazon without specifying a particular brand, then you've probably been exposed to a ton of different companies you've never seen before. Usually this happens with items that are fairly common — you'll see recommendations from Amazon selling its "essentials" version of the product, with probably a few other companies you may have heard of.
But then, every so often, you'll be presented with a brand name that seems like its a nonsensical assortment of gibberish. And the more you scroll, the more you'll probably see the same product being sold under different, strange run-on-sentence names prefaced by said gibberish.
It's a phenomenon that TikToker Louis DeFelice (@ballet_felice) opined on in a viral clip where he plays out a skit between an anthropomorphized Amazon search engine and a shopper on the site who's on the hunt for a black t-shirt.
The following is how their comedic dialogue exchange plays out.
Customer: Hey I'm looking to buy just a standard black men's t-shirt.
Amazon: Amazon has a lot of options so consider just selecting our Amazon's pick Black T-Shirt T-Shirt for Men Classic T black T black t-shirt for men for going out for athletics for staying home for life in general t shirt for men classic t black T shirt.
Customer: Well that's a really long name what's the brand, by the way?
Amazon: The brand is capital Y, capital N, capital P, capital Y, capital S, capital T, capital T, capital S, capital Y
Customer: Okay, I've never heard of them. Um, what are the reviews like?
Amazon: There are 4,000 five star reviews and 1,000 four star reviews. Although when you start scrolling to read them, you'll realize a lot of the reviews are for a completely different product and somehow they've all been lumped here into the t-shirt listing.
Customer: And I happen to notice that some of the models look a little off.
Amazon: That is correct all of our models are certified AI generated weirdos.
Customer: I'm also noticing that a lot of these images are the same images as a whole different t-shirt listing from another brand with a bunch of weird capital letters is it possible these are all the same shirt coming from the same factory?
Amazon: Yes.
Customer (taking off sunglasses and taking a drag from a fat cigar): I'll take it and get it to me by tomorrow.
Other TikTokers who viewed his post started getting in on the jokes Louis touched upon on what it's like browsing production selections on Amazon, highlighting how on the popular online retailer, one might not come across any brands that they recognize and that the world of fashion, luxury, and nomenclatures assigned to products don't seem to matter.
"The top is from YOOTSPKLWQ The bottoms are from ZPLASTGFUT The kicks are from NYKEE," one person wrote.
Another joked, "This is why I only wear HGGYBRLLOP"
Others highlighted other strange phenomena they've encountered while attempting to make purchases on the website, such as the alarmingly fast shipping times for some variants of the items that customers are able to get delivered to their door: "The color shirt you want won’t be here till November 21st but the neon green shirt can be at your doorstep by 3 am."
Distractify put Louis' search claim to the test and navigated on over to Amazon to see what a result result for "black t-shirt" would yield.
At the top of the non advertised men's apparel choices, where offerings from True Classic, Pair of Thieves, INTO THE AM, Fruit of the Loom — these were all sponsored listings.
They were then followed by Gildan and Hanes posts, and then Fruit of the Loom, Russell Athletic, and Amazon Essentials.
It's after this that the truly weird options started pouring in — a brand called DIORLV, followed later by NITAGUT, and KLIEGOU showed up in the choices.
What has your experience shopping on Amazon been like? Do you find that the online retailer has been, for the most part, fairly on the money when it comes to providing customers with pertinent search results for the items they're searching for? Have you found yourself let down by Amazon?
Or are people so used to shopping with quick shipping and a variety of affordable options for the retailer that they ultimately forgot about how good they've got it and are taking Amazon for granted as a result?
