The global fast-food chain has taken down a holiday commercial created via AI after encountering considerable criticism on social media.
The 45-second film was produced using AI-generated video and was initially released publicly for McDonald's Netherlands on 6 December.
Social Media Criticism and Decision to Pull
Following its publication, commenters lambasted the employment of AI in the advert. Several called it "creepy" and "poorly edited".
"This experience represents an valuable lesson as we investigate the proper use of generative technology," stated a representative from McDonald's Netherlands.
The commercial was produced for McDonald's by Dutch agency TBWA\Neboko and American firm The Sweetshop. It portrayed a series of situations that can go wrong over the Christmas break, with the slogan "not the most wonderful time of the year".
A Growing Phenomenon of AI in Advertising
Commercials that include AI-created content have emerged as a growing trend among major corporations, particularly for the Christmas season.
- Coca-Cola has recently released back-to-back AI-created holiday ads.
- Inherent Limitations: As clips created using generative AI are prone to degrade the longer they run, the majority of AI video outputs tend to be only short in length.
- Industry Concerns: The ad also raised fears about job displacement in the production sector, with some observers pointing out it could reduce work for production staff.
Defense from the Creators
Following the ad being taken down, a producer's CEO, Melanie Bridge, spoke in support of the project.
She stated, the development took "over a month and a half" and involved creating "countless iterations" which were then edited during the edit "in the same way we would on any high-craft production".
"This was not an AI gimmick," she said. "The result was a proper commercial."
Mixed Audience Sentiment
While the McDonald's commercial was largely criticized, the sentiment for some AI-assisted campaigns has been divisive.
For instance, a consecutive AI-generated Christmas ad from Coca-Cola according to analysis received a 61% "positive sentiment rating" from viewers.
However, several companies have also faced backlash for using AI in marketing. Italian brand Valentino, for example, was criticized for ads that critics called "low-effort" and "disturbing".
The situation illustrates the evolving conversation within the marketing and creative industries about the balance between AI efficiency and creative integrity.
