McDonald’s Netherlands has taken down a 45-second Christmas advert created with generative AI following widespread criticism online, telling BBC News the incident served as “an important learning” as the company continues to examine how AI can be used effectively.
Release of the Advert and Immediate Public Reaction
The advert, published on 6 December on the company’s YouTube channel, was produced by Dutch agency TBWA\Neboko and US production company The Sweetshop. Viewers quickly denounced the use of AI in the film, with comments describing it as “the most god-awful ad I’ve seen this year” and criticising its uncanny characters and heavily stitched-together visuals. The film portrayed holiday mishaps under the slogan “the most terrible time of the year,” suggesting that time was better spent at McDonald’s.
Generative AI clips often distort as they extend in length, and most AI-generated segments run between six and ten seconds. A 45-second advert therefore likely required many short clips combined in post-production, contributing to the appearance that viewers labelled “creepy” and “poorly edited.”
Industry Concerns and Company Responses
Following the video’s removal from public view on 9 December, The Sweetshop’s chief executive Melanie Bridge defended the production process. She told Futurism that the work took seven weeks, involved “thousands of takes,” and required editing comparable to high-craft production. “This wasn’t an AI trick,” she said. “It was a film.” The advert also prompted worries about job displacement in creative industries, with one social media commenter remarking, “No actors, no camera team… welcome to the future of filmmaking. And it sucks.”
In its statement to BBC News, McDonald’s Netherlands said the video was intended to highlight stressful holiday moments but chose to remove it after the reaction. The company reiterated that the moment represented an opportunity to learn as it assessed the future use of AI in campaigns.
Growing Use of AI in Seasonal Advertising
Several major brands have experimented with AI-generated advertising during the Christmas period. Coca-Cola released its second AI-generated Christmas advert in a row, achieving a 61% positive sentiment rating from commenters, according to analytics firm Social Sprout. Other companies have faced more negative responses. Italian fashion house Valentino drew criticism for an AI-generated campaign that viewers called “cheap” and “lazy.”
Shorter production timelines have led more companies to explore AI-assisted video creation. Traditional high-profile Christmas campaigns can take up to a year to develop, but generative tools allow agencies to produce new concepts far more quickly, using AI prompts to generate visual material.
Featured image credits: Pexels
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