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Viewers were not lovin’ it.
McDonald’s has taken down a Christmas ad that was allegedly entirely produced with artificial intelligence after the brand was slammed with an onslaught of backlash from unhappy customers.
The 45-second advertisement from McDonald’s Netherlands was first posted on their YouTube channel on Dec. 6 and was removed just a few days later on Dec. 9 following the outcry online.
In the video, AI-generated people are constantly experiencing strokes of bad luck, with chaotic family dinners, shopping woes, burnt cookies, failed Christmas tree decorating and so on.
“McDonald’s unveiled what has to be the most god-awful ad I’ve seen this year,” one user wrote on X. “Fully AI-generated, that’s one. Looks repulsive, that’s two. More cynical about Christmas than the Grinch, that’s three.”
The ad is set to a song to the tune of “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” — but the made-up lyrics are the song’s antidote, calling the holiday season “the most terrible time of the year.”
The commercial ends by telling viewers to “hide out in McDonald’s until January’s here.”
After the harsh criticism, McDonald’s initially turned off comments on the YouTube video before removing it completely.
McDonald’s Netherlands told the BBC that the video was meant to “reflect the stressful moments that can occur during the holidays,” but it was “an important learning” moment as the company explored “the effective use of AI.”
Though it’s been removed from their official YouTube channel, the ad has been reposted many times on social media, where the reaction is still largely negative, criticizing the use of AI as well as the negative message of the ad.
“If they were going for creepy, depressing, deeply unfunny, clumsily shot, poorly edited, and inauthentic — nailed it!” someone quipped on X.
“It sucks. It’s awful. There’s no artistry. No wit. No charm. No warmth. No humanity. You can tell it’s AI from a million miles away. I hate it. You should hate it. We should relentlessly mock and deride and bully anyone or any company that uses AI like this,” another post said.
“Advertisements are meant to connect brands with humans who have money. When brands create crappy ads, they only diminish the relationship between them and their customers,” another noted.
“Let’s hope AI customers eat as many burgers as real ones,” one quipped.
“Very fitting for a place that sells fake food to make a fake ad,” someone else wrote.
“As real as their hamburgers,” someone added.
Meanwhile, the studio behind the ad, the Gardening Club, is defending its work, noting on LinkedIn that the AI-generated ad still took “seven intense weeks” for humans to create, admitting that “the man-hours poured into this film were more than a traditional production.”
Melanie Bridge, CEO of The Sweetshop, the studio’s parent company, shared a similar sentiment on Instagram, saying that, “The hours that went into this job far exceeded a traditional shoot. Ten people, five weeks, full-time. Blood, sweat, tears, and an honestly ridiculous amount of coaxing to get the models to behave and to honor the creative brief shot by shot.”
Still, these defenses took criticism of their own.
“7 weeks of post… wouldn’t that be the same as shooting it for real with some post effects? Serious question,” someone asked.
“Guys, still a very long way to get there. Brief aside (which in general was bad), it’s still AI slop, doesn’t matter if it took 7 weeks of post. It’s so unnatural,” another commented.
“It’s fascinating that you’ve had to work so hard to make it not look like AI slop, but I’m afraid it’s still AI slop that’s really creepy to watch. Weirdly, it kind of gives me hope that AI just can’t replace human creativity! Here’s hoping,” one noted.
“This is terrible. You admit spending more time and effort than traditional methods (and consume more finite resources by needlessly using wildly unsustainable tech) for an end result consumers hated so much that your client can’t use your ‘work,’” a user wrote.
McDonald’s isn’t the only company that has recently faced backlash for AI-generated ads.
Coca-Cola’s “Holidays Are Coming” campaign featured two AI-generated commercials, which instantly sparked criticism online.
Italian fashion house Valentino was also slammed after unveiling an advertisement featuring Artificial Intelligence, with trendsetters trashing the release as “cheap” and “tacky.”
