Japanese pizza chain PIZZA-LA issued an apology on its official website on the 6th after an AI-generated video was automatically served as an ad through the company’s official TikTok account during its collaboration with the TV anime Dr.STONE.
The company attributed the incident to an incorrect setting configured when staff launched the campaign. The ad has since been taken down, and PIZZA-LA has suspended all of its TikTok advertising.
PIZZA-LA launched the collaboration on October 1. Customers ordering a half-and-half pizza featuring the limited-edition “François-style Beef Curry Pizza” and “Kingdom of Science-style Mediterranean Margherita Pizza” receive an exclusive pizza box sleeve decorated with newly drawn collaboration artwork. A limited quantity of merchandise bundles is also available.
However, an ad recently shown on the company’s official TikTok account sparked controversy. In addition to incorrect names appearing on character cards, the video featured several visibly inconsistent details. Many users questioned whether generative AI had been used, prompting frustration among fans.
In a statement released on the 6th, PIZZA-LA said:
“We sincerely apologize for the considerable concern and distress this incident has caused fans of Dr.STONE, everyone involved in the collaboration, and all those who have continued to support PIZZA-LA. We also apologize for the delay in issuing this statement, as it took time to confirm the details of what occurred.”
The statement continued: “Every work and character represents the dedication of the original creator and everyone involved in its production, as well as a carefully developed world built over many years. We should have respected the appeal of the work and conveyed it faithfully to audiences. We take our responsibility for this incident very seriously.” Addressing how the video was distributed, the company explained: “This occurred because the staff member responsible configured an incorrect setting when our company began running TikTok ads.”
The company provided further details:
“We did not have a sufficient understanding of the TikTok advertising platform’s feature that uses AI technology to automatically generate and serve ads. The feature was set to ‘enabled’ at the time, and we completed the ad setup while it remained enabled, resulting in the ad being served. Consequently, a video that had not been reviewed or authorized in advance by the Dr.STONE TV Anime Production Committee was publicly shown as an advertisement from PIZZA-LA’s official TikTok account.”
The company added: “The ad has now been taken down, and all TikTok advertising has been suspended for the time being. We deeply regret that we failed to adequately understand and verify the platform’s advertising mechanisms and configuration settings, and we apologize for this failure. Going forward, we will review our procedures for checking ad settings and managing advertising content to prevent a similar incident from happening again.”
In short, TikTok’s AI ad-generation feature had been left enabled, causing automatically generated ads to be served by mistake. The result was an awkward situation in which AI-generated imagery appeared in an official campaign that already had approved collaboration artwork.
PIZZA-LA has apologized and explained what happened, but many fans remain dissatisfied with the company’s lack of care when configuring the campaign. With AI-generated images and text already facing considerable resistance in Japan, the explanation may not be enough to fully repair the damage to the brand’s reputation.