“Tequila” would leave your mouth wide open, rather than what you are usually trying to accomplish with “Cheese!”
I don’t know, if you know you’re supposed to smile it’s not that hard to make it sound something like Tequileeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh, I can’t really type it out correctly but it comes out quite close to the pseudo-smile you get with cheese, and the sound you make is virtually indistinguishable from tequila.
How about “tequeeeeeeeela”? Followed by a shot or two afterward as a reward. Would make ME smile.
In Korea, it’s either one: Kimchi or cheese. All depends on the person.
I knew a professional photographer who would always say, “Say ‘dirty diapers’!” because people would smile or laugh to hear that, not because the subjects saying the words themselves would result in a smile.
The “dee” sound in *Disez fromage * would work in France.
That would be “Dites ‘fromage’”, actually. (The imperative form of dire and faire is irregular.) Moreover, the people being photographed would then only reply ‘fromage!’, which doesn’t exactly make them do a smile. It’s still used somewhat in French-speaking countries, by analogy with the English phrase. It’s been a while since I’ve been photographed by someone who asked me to say something, but as I remember it usually was ‘fromage’ or ‘cheese’. Sometimes ‘sex’, but that’s because it makes people smile for other reasons. 