Cute Cat Plush Turns into “Stray Look”, Online Shopping Victims Fume: AI Is to Blame

Online shopping's worst nightmare is receiving something that looks nothing like the photos, and this particular “fail” case is exaggerated enough to leave netizens in stitches. A Hong Kong woman shared her colleague's hilarious experience on social media, saying the colleague had happily ordered a cute cat plush on Pinduoduo (a Mainland online retailing platform), only for the actual product to arrive looking like a “stray-look” cat. The gap was so huge that the poster couldn't help but joke: “The cat plush looks like it just got run over by a dump truck and then struck by lightning; I'm dying of laughter.”

The sharp contrast between the real item and the seller's photos. Photo source: online image

The Hong Kong woman posted on Threads, revealing that her colleague was drawn to a photo of a cat plush on the online shopping platform. The cat in the seller's image looked cute and tidy, with an endearing appearance, so the colleague ordered it without a second thought. But after opening the package with great anticipation, the colleague was shocked to find the real thing was worlds apart from the picture: the originally refined cat plush had become a “stray cat” with a mess of fur and a flat face. The poster said she herself couldn't help but laugh upon seeing the actual product, and described this “survivor” of a cat plush as having been “run over by a dump truck and then struck by lightning.”

The real item. Photo source: online image

The post immediately sparked heated discussion among a large number of netizens. It turned out the “victims” were far from alone. Many netizens left comments sharing their own online plush-buying fails. Quite a few had also purchased cat plushies advertised as cute, only to receive something identical to what the poster got: a mess of dishevelled fur and a flat face, a phenomenon that could only be described as “collective look-alike”. The fail cases were diverse: someone bought a fox plush and received a completely different species and pattern; another wanted a pink thick-lipped gorilla plush, but the mouth shape on arrival didn't match at all.

The seller's photo. Photo source: online image

The real item. Photo source: online image

The seller's photo. Photo source: online image

The real item. Photo source: online image

Regarding the wave of netizens falling victim together, some pointed the finger at the prevalence of AI-generated images. Some argued that many official online shopping images are “strongly AI-flavoured”; it's simply unrealistic to expect a plush costing a few dozen dollars to be as refined as a real cat in real life, so a massive gap between seller images and actual products is only to be expected. Others took the opportunity to mock the victims, commenting: “You bought it even though the picture is so AI”, “The picture is AI at first glance; it really can't be trusted”, “Everyone really needs to learn how to tell AI images apart.”

The seller's photo. Photo source: online image

The real item. Photo source: online image

The seller's photo. Photo source: online image

The real item. Photo source: online image

TOKYO (AP) — Asians shares were trading mixed early Friday, as worries about the future of artificial intelligence grew after Alphabet's stock drop dragged on U.S. markets.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 2.6% to 62,960.60. The Bank of Japan is closing a two-day monetary policy board meeting, but most analysts expect no action this time around after the central bank raised its benchmark rate to 1.25% last month.

The U.S. has also been pressuring Japan to raise rates because of concerns about the weakening yen. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 157.50 Japanese yen from 157.65 yen. The euro cost $1.1197, up from $1.1181.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% to 8,937.60. South Korea's Kospi declined 5.4% to 5,618.76, as shares in SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics both slipped in morning trading.

Shares related to the great market interest in AI have tended to be volatile, because some issues, including chip makers, get pushed up because of that interest, but then may decline because of worries about supplies, for instance.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.2% to 23,225.69, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.9% to 3,618.14.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% for its first loss in four days, even though the wide majority of stocks rose within the index and across Wall Street. The Nasdaq composite tumbled 1.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 132 points, or 0.3%.

Alphabet is one of the most influential stocks on Wall Street because it’s one of the largest, and the Class A shares of its stock fell 12.6% for their worst day since they began trading more than 20 years ago.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 23.59 points to 7,720.39 Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 132.54 to 52,342.56, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 365.13 to 26,184.72.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.94% from 5.05% late Wednesday. It’s been generally pulling back since it topped 5.30% earlier this month and touched its highest level since 2002.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude gained 2.80% to $104.86 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, edged up 2.54% to $117.80 a barrel.

AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

FILE - Traders Drew Cohen, left, and Dylan Halvorsan work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)