Fact Check: Pawan Kalyan promotes Araku Coffee with his t-shirt? Know the truth here
An image of a person wearing a t-shirt with ‘Araku Coffee’ printed on it has gone viral as AP deputy CM Pawan Kalyan’s personal promotion of the coffee brand.
By M Ramesh Naik Published on 23 Jan 2025 1:36 PM IST
Claim: The image shows AP deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan promoting Araku coffee by wearing the brand on his t-shirt.
Fact: The claim is false. The image is AI-generated.
Hyderabad: Actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan, now serving as the deputy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, has a massive cult following. His fans treat him as a larger-than-life figure, with every move he makes sparking trends and viral moments across social media platforms.
In this context, an image of person with very close resemblance to Pawan Kalyan holding a coffee cup and wearing a t-shirt with ‘Araku Coffee’ printed on it has gone viral. The cup obscures the face below the eyes leading to speculation by those sharing the image that it shows AP deputy CM Pawan promoting Araku coffee.
A Facebook user shared the image with the caption, “A single ad can generate income of crores of rupees, but if the system is good, everything will be fine. In one day, Araku Coffee is getting more publicity than ever before.” (Translated from Telugu) (Archive)
Similar posts have surfaced here, here and here. (Archive link1, Archive link2, Archive link3)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The image is AI-generated.
Using relevant keywords, we searched the web for news related to Pawan Kalyan promoting Araku coffee but couldn’t find any.
Upon close observation of the viral image, we noticed several discrepancies common among AI-generated images. The alignment of the left hand and the coffee cup handle appeared unnatural, and the manner in which the cup was held seemed off. Additionally, the image bore the faint watermark of ‘Grok’ and a logo at the bottom-right corner. Grok Image Generator is a generative AI tool designed to create art and visuals from text inputs. Its official website states that it is specifically built for artistic creations.
We also analysed the image using the AI detection tool Hive Moderation, which assigned it a 98.2 per cent aggregate score of being AI-generated.
NewsMeter found a post shared by the official handle of the Deputy Chief Minister’s Office of Andhra Pradesh on October 9, 2024. The post stated that deputy CM Pawan Kalyan visited an exhibition organised by the Tribal Cooperative Society (GCC) at his office. The exhibition showcased over 50 tribal products, including soapberries, nannari, Indian hog plum (karakkayalu), honey, coffee beans and other items sourced directly from tribal communities.
The post featured photos of Pawan Kalyan inspecting the stalls and one of the images showed him holding a packet of Araku Coffee with a flex in the background promoting the product. However, there were no indication of a separate promotional campaign or the viral image in question.
Additionally, a review of Pawan Kalyan’s official social media accounts did not reveal any posts or images supporting the viral claim.
Therefore, we conclude that the claim is false. The viral image of deputy CM Pawan Kalyan promoting Araku coffee is AI-generated.
