In March 2023, Levi Strauss & Co announced a partnership with Lalaland.ai to supplement its product photography with AI-generated models of different body types, skin tones, and ages. The company framed it as a way to show more diversity than a traditional photo shoot allowed. Critics immediately pointed out the obvious: instead of paying diverse human models to work, Levi's was planning to replace them with AI-generated images. The backlash was swift — writers, photographers, and model agencies called it a form of digital blackface. Levi's issued a statement saying it would 'not reduce the number of human models' but the damage was done.