You know what AI-generated art is really good for? Generating images fast. Not good images or accurate images, just fast crap that would have taken a human a lot longer to make, except the human may have decided not to do anything profoundly and obviously stupid, like putting a Toyota Tacoma on merch for Ram or getting the number of stars on the American flag wrong. That’s what AI-generated images are good for: making unusably stupid images with breathtaking speed.
I wish this was a joke, but, sadly, it’s not. Stellantis’ main all-truck-all-the-time brand, Ram, has a big merch store absolutely jam-packed with Ram-themed stuff, like T-shirts and knives and drinking glasses and backpacks and hoodies and probably a colonic kit or whatever. You would think that, since the whole point of the merch is to showcase Ram trucks and promote the whole Ram product identity, the use of, say, Ram trucks instead of, oh, Toyota trucks would be a big deal.
You would think that, but clearly Ram doesn’t seem to think something as trivial as not putting a competitor’s truck on their own merch is a big deal, because look at this shirt that was for sale on their site:
Screenshot: Official Ram Outfitters
So we have a “2026 RAM PATRIOTIC UNISEX T-SHIRT” here. The 2026 checks out, since that’s the year of our Lord that we are in, and I guess it’s unisex, since it lacks any genitalia, and it definitely is a T-shirt. But the Ram and patriotic part? I’m not so sure. Let’s look at the Ram part:
Screenshot: Official Ram Outfitters
Wait…is that a Ram? I don’t think so. Look:
Screenshot: Official Ram Outfitters, Ram, Toyota
That’s a Tacoma. A used Tacoma, even. Ram couldn’t even spring for a new Tacoma to put on their Ram shirts? It’s definitely not a Ram, even if someone or some algorithm slapped a RAM badge on that distinctive Tacoma grille.
And as far as patriotic, well, wouldn’t you expect a patriot to at least know how many stars, and from there, states there are in these wonderful United States of America?
Screenshot: Official Ram Outfitters
I’m pretty sure we have 50 states, and that flag only has, even assuming there’s some blocked behind that Toyota, 40 stars. Look up there, I did the math. So what states is Ram suggesting we remove? A Dakota? We have three of them, after all, I think. Rhode Island? It’s small, maybe no one will notice. Arizona? Maine? North Carolina? Franklin? Florida? Who knows?
Other folks online noticed these issues as well, and the shirt seems to have been pulled from the site. But it’s not the only thing Ram is selling that promotes a Toyota Tacoma. Want a huge, four-foot banner that shows how much you love America, re-badged Tacomas, and AI bullshit? Boy are you in luck!
Screenshot: Official Ram Outfitters
Look at that thing, proudly proclaiming that this is Truck Country! Truck Country must be a former Japanese colony, based on their mascot truck:
Screenshot: Official Ram Outfitters, Toyota
There’s our Toyota again, wearing the RAM badge. Now just on the off chance that you think we’re being too harsh here, that it really isn’t such a big deal to have some other company’s truck on this banner with the Ram name on it, let me present a little analogy.
What if your kid was really into Hello Kitty, and they wanted a Hello Kitty poster. So you go to the Hello Kitty official merch site, and buy a Hello Kitty poster, and you get this:
Images: Sanrio, King Features Syndicate
It says Hello Kitty but the kitty herself has the head of 1978-era Garfield. Do you think your kid would be fine with that? After all, it’s still a cat, right? And before you say it, no I don’t buy that Hello Kitty is somehow not a cat, so save it.
The point is clearly this would not be okay. Sanrio would never allow such a poster to be sold through any of their outlets. So why does a company that makes tiny stationary sets for little kids have such higher standards than Stellantis, one of the world’s biggest carmakers?
Why is Ram okay with this? It’s absurd! The level of AI slop here is so vast and rich it would feed every algorithmic swine in the world. It’s literally the wrong freaking truck on Ram’s own merchandise. They should feel embarassed as hell.
Remember, this isn’t the first time Ram has made an ass of themselves with AI. Take the L and learn the lesson, dummies. Hire some actual designers to make your damn shirts. Sure, you’ll have to pay them, but they will at least know how many damn states there are in American and I suspect will know which motherclutching truck to put on the damn shirt.
We really living in the stupidest of times. Ram, get your head out of your ass.
Top shot: Ram