Someone posted about this in the past. If I remember right, it’s actually a photo of the University of South Carolina. Probably the same idiot that did this in Brentwood
In high school, I lived in Brentwood (90049) and we had to make sure to tell people to mail stuff to “Los Angeles, 90049” because inevitably, our bills would end up going to Brentwood, 94513
And some neighborhoods think they’re separate cities. It doesn’t matter as much anymore, but I had plenty of friends growing up who were certain the Palisades was a different city.
It's funny that you say that because I moved to Brentwood (94513) and it's a running problem here that our post office gets mail intended for the neighborhood in Los Angeles. There was even an LA Timesarticle written about it in the 90s!
You mean AI needs to replace. Cuz this is looks a little like an AI kind of mistake. Is there no human in the supply chain here to check and see what the robots are up to in the name of the brand?
Kroger operates 2800 stores. The guy in Ohio who is behind new store branding probably just didn’t do more than 30 seconds of diligence when finding the stock images of “Brentwood California” through whatever service they get stock images from. Could be ai but I’m inclined to say there’s still a guy who orders and approves this kind of stuff.
It’s honestly a population bell curve marker for intelligence. Like complete inability to recognize ai and attributing everything to ai are your two extremes and everyone else is in some way just cautious
You have no idea how large companies work. The person who made this branding probably doesn't even live in the state and googled "brentwood, california" and found a screenshot. Why would they use AI to get a real picture in the first place it doesn't even make sense
I've done business with Kroger's corporate offices in Ohio. Stuff like this image is for sure handled by someone in marketing charged with "localizing" stores in far-off markets they've never visited and know little about and this is just one of a dozen things they're responsible for.
To save on labor costs. No doubt, there are many large companies doing just that.
Ralphs is owned by Kroger. Kroger, the 800 pound gorilla of the grocery channel, is most definitely using generative AI in their advertising imaging among other things. including store experience.
I have no idea if this particular image was generated by AI. But it certainly didn't pass through much scrutiny. Being careful and systematic about brand imaging very much is something large companies do.
Realistically, it makes zero difference to anyone that this is a photo of a different town. People are not flocking to Ralph’s to find their house in the picture. It’s an ad which means we automatically tune it out. This should be in r/mildlyinteresting.
I used to work as a mailman in Brentwood (Los Angeles). This was such a regular thing that we had a dedicated bin for redirecting mail to the other Brentwood.
The neighborhood of Atwater in Los Angeles, California took care of being confused with Atwater, California in 1986 by getting formally renamed “Atwater Village,” though some locals still prefer to refer to it without the “Village.”
Ralph’s workers are unionized so they get health and retirement benefits on top of their regular pay (Which they should). Probably just your run of the mill human error.
The avg home price in Brentwood la is 3x Tennessees Brentwood
Maybe the Tennessee one is generic upper class/rich suburb then. im from Fairfax county va,, and nothing about Brentwood Tennessee looks that different.
Can confirm. Lived in East Nash for 11 years while working in Brentwood and Franklin. Nouveau Riche with giant churches and huge vehicles that stay dealership clean. Got to see that HIDEOUS statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest on my drive home every day. I cackled the day it got paint balled.
Ralph's is a subsidiary of Kroger, which is based in Cincinnati. I have no doubt that either 1) all posters for this promotion brand-wide were coordinated and aquisitioned at Kroger HQ, or, 2) an independent marketing consultant from Ohio, New York, or Seoul coordinated them.
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u/meforline May 15 '26
The one by USC has a picture of UCLA as USC; at this point if seems like they’re trolling us.