The animation industry is facing an existential threat in the form of generative AI.

Entertainment execs remain adamant that the tech is the answer, allowing fewer workers to accomplish more in less time — a thinly-veiled attempt, critics charge, to pinch pennies and churn out lower quality content.

Marketing teams are also frequently caving to the irresistible draw of text-to-video generators, a cutting of corners in ways that are both uninspired and easy to spot. And as the backlash to generative AI continues to grow, especially in creative fields, those attempts are bringing in far more negative than positive attention.

Case in point, fans of the Major League Baseball team the Toronto Blue Jays were outraged after the team’s social media account posted an animated short, as part of a brand tie-in with Nestle-owned beverage company Nestea.

The clip, animated in a style typical for a TV show aimed at adults, like “Bojack Horseman” or “Family Guy,” bears all the hallmarks of the sloppy use of AI, from garbled, misoriented hands to illegible text.

A community note appended to the post points out that the video “contains AI artifacts including garbled text on trading card boxes and a player with three arms in the rookie poster, contrary to the claim it was made by a real animator.”

Instead of owning up to the lazy use of AI, the team dug in its heels.

“Corny,” one fan wrote. “[Blue Jays owner] Rogers can’t afford real animation??”

“Corny comment,” the team’s official account replied. “This was made by a real animator.”

The doubling down in particular didn’t sit well with fans.

“It’s not just AI, It’s really painfully obvious error riddled AI,” one user tweeted.

“Yeahhh, you ain’t fooling anybody,” another wrote. “Do better.”

“Plenty of talented animators you could have hired to do this instead of having it be AI slop,” one user commented on an extended version posted to YouTube.

“I fear you got fleeced paying whoever made this, it’s very obvious [AI] was used especially with the background details,” another added.

The incident perfectly illustrates widespread disillusionment with the use of generative AI and how radioactive the topic has become. We’ve gotten to the point where small businesses are starting to hand draw their own promotional signage and vow not to use any AI, as 404 Media reported last month — getting a major influx of interest as a result.

It’s a particularly precarious situation for human animators, who’ve watched their industry change dramatically over the years. Even the creator of the iconic stop motion franchise “Wallace and Gromit” recently said he’d start to “embrace” AI.

Leaning into the tech can easily backfire. Emmy-winning writer director Jorge Gutierrez announced he was partnering up with Amazon as part of its GenAI Creators’ Fund earlier this year, but the backlash turned out to be fierce enough for him to walk away from the deal altogether.

More on AI animation: OpenAI’s Attempt at an AI-Generated Pixar-Style Movie Is in Shambles