Palma Cathedral as a Film Set: When AI Advertising Makes Fiction Look Real

A poster that doesn’t exist—and an image pretending it does

A promotional video for the comedy “The Perfect Holiday” shows a giant poster on Palma Cathedral. At first glance, it looks as if an advert really is hanging on La Seu. A second look should raise doubts. According to the information available, the scene was generated using artificial intelligence; the poster is not on the façade. The production company’s Instagram Reel did not label the image as AI-generated.

So the central question is not whether a film can show Mallorca. Of course it can. The question is: How far can advertising go with a deceptively realistic image when it turns a protected landmark into a backdrop without letting viewers know that the scene is fictional?

Why La Seu?

The cathedral is not a neutral background like just any hotel façade. It defines Palma’s skyline, stands in the heart of the city and means far more to many people than a photo opportunity. Anyone walking through the streets around Parc de la Mar knows the view of the pale stone, the towers and the changing light. An oversized advertising banner on this building would be a striking change—and that is precisely why the idea works as an attention-grabbing image.

But the image does not show a real advertising campaign; it shows a digitally created scene. When scrolling quickly, viewers may easily miss the difference in the few seconds they spend looking. This is not a minor technical issue. An image can convey a specific claim without any explanatory text beneath it: advertising is happening here. Someone booked this space. This really happened.

The film’s production and its promotion are two different things. “The Perfect Holiday,” starring Elyas M’Barek, Wotan Wilke Möhring and Karoline Herfurth, was filmed in Mallorca in November 2025. A hotel complex in Camp de Mar is among the locations mentioned. That explains the film’s connection to the island. But it does not make an artificial poster on the cathedral a real photograph—or automatically turn it into a good advertising idea.

The missing label is no small matter

When AI images in Mallorca come up, the debate often immediately turns to: “Can you even tell the difference anymore?” The more practical question matters more here: Why should the audience have to play detective? When an advertising scene alters a real, widely known place, the fact that it was artificially generated should be clearly visible. Not buried in an explanation that is hard to find, and not only after the image has already been shared a thousand times.

A label does not necessarily take the fun out of a campaign. But it draws a line between obvious fantasy and an image that looks like a record of fact. Anyone using a real place should also take responsibility for the impression their image creates. The question is not just whether someone can technically call it “fake.” It is about being fair to people who know the place and to those seeing the video for the first time.

Public conversations about images like these often overlook what happens after they are shared. A Reel gets taken out of context, sent to private groups or passed around as a screenshot. The original post and any explanations do not always travel with it. Even when a correction appears later, the striking image often stays in people’s minds longer than the note beneath it. A label directly on the image would not be decoration; it would be the simplest way to orient viewers.

A quick glance at Plaça de la Reina is all it takes

Picture the scene in everyday life: a visitor walks from Passeig del Born towards the cathedral, pauses briefly, raises their phone and sends the supposed advertising stunt to the family group chat. Maybe they are sitting at a table near Plaça de la Reina; maybe they see the Reel on the metro or at the airport. Nobody first checks the rules for the façade or compares the tower with a recent photo. The image is designed to make a quick, immediate impression.

For many Mallorcans, the cathedral is part of the everyday cityscape: on the way to work, while shopping in the old town or walking down towards the water. You do not have to stand in front of La Seu every day to know that a giant advertising space there would be anything but incidental. When that familiar reality is rewritten digitally, it can feel like a small test: how much can be done with a famous landmark before anyone asks questions?

What a responsible campaign could do

The solution is straightforward. First, clearly label AI-generated scenes that visibly alter a real place. Second, make sure the label remains visible if the image is shared as a screenshot. Third, briefly explain in the caption what is real and what is not—for example, that the film was shot in Mallorca, but the poster on the cathedral is only a digital concept.

A simple plausibility check during approval would also help: could this image lead people on the island to believe that an advertising space had actually been installed? If so, it needs a clear label or a different image. A production can show the island as a filming location without turning its most famous building into what looks like a real advertising wall. And if the artificial alteration is meant to be the joke, it can be presented openly as one.

The debate over German advertising in Mallorca is already a sensitive one. In recent months, a Sparkasse campaign at the airport also caused controversy; the poster was removed after criticism. That is a different case and should not be equated with a digital image. But both raise the question of who gets to decide how Mallorca appears in an advertising message—and whether the people on the island are merely part of the backdrop. The controversy around provocative poster campaigns in Mallorca is another example of how public campaigns can spark debate.

A film can use Mallorca as a setting. An artificial scene can exaggerate, too. But when La Seu appears to become an advertising space, fantasy should not be disguised as reality. A small, clear AI label would not have removed the sense of unease. At least it would have made the image honest.