The global fast-food chain has taken down a Christmas commercial created via AI after receiving widespread criticism on social media.
The brief ad was created using generative AI clips and was initially published on the YouTube channel for the Dutch branch of McDonald's on 6 December.
Audience Reaction and Decision to Pull
Shortly after its release, audiences online lambasted the use of AI in the commercial. A number of described it as "creepy" and "jarringly assembled".
"This moment is an key learning as we investigate the effective application of AI," said a representative from McDonald's Netherlands.
The commercial was produced for the brand by Dutch agency TBWA\Neboko and US production company The Sweetshop. It portrayed various situations that often go badly over the festive season, with the slogan "the most terrible time of the year".
A Growing Phenomenon of AI in Advertising
Commercials that incorporate generative AI have become a rising trend among major brands, notably for the holiday period.
- Coca-Cola has also released back-to-back AI-generated Christmas commercials.
- Inherent Limitations: As videos made with generative AI are prone to degrade the longer they run, most AI video outputs tend to be only a few seconds in length.
- Industry Concerns: The ad also raised worries about job displacement in the production industry, with some commenters stating it could affect opportunities for production staff.
Response from the Production Company
Following the video's removal, The Sweetshop's chief executive, Melanie Bridge, stood by the advert.
Bridge claimed, the development took "seven weeks" and involved producing "countless iterations" which were then shaped during the edit "in the same way we would on any standard production".
"This wasn't an AI trick," she commented. "The result was a film."
Mixed Public Reception
While the Dutch McDonald's commercial was mostly criticized, the reception for some AI-generated campaigns has been varied.
For instance, a consecutive AI-generated Christmas spot from Coca-Cola reportedly garnered a 61% "positive feedback" from online commenters.
However, several companies have also received scrutiny for using the technique in marketing. Italian fashion house Valentino, for example, was lambasted for advertisements that critics called "lazy" and "disturbing".
The episode highlights the evolving discussion within the advertising and production industries about the trade-off between new tools and audience reception.
