diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2_ami.py b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2_ami.py
index f662477360..24f243f69b 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2_ami.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2_ami.py
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ def main():
     try:
         ec2 = ec2_connect(module)
     except Exception, e:
-        module.json_fail(msg="Error while connecting to aws: %s" % str(e))
+        module.fail_json(msg="Error while connecting to aws: %s" % str(e))
 
     if module.params.get('state') == 'absent':
         if not module.params.get('image_id'):