McDonald’s pulls AI-generated Christmas ad after social media backlash

Some social media users in the Netherlands said they couldn’t stomach it, so McDonald’s has withdrawn an advertisement generated entirely by artificial intelligence.

Entitled “the most terrible time of the year,” the 45-second video was released on the fast-food giant’s YouTube channel for the country Saturday.

As a reworked version of the Andy Williams song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” plays in the background, a series of mishaps befall people at Christmas.

Presents are knocked off the top of a car by a low bridge, carol singers have their sheet music blown away and even Santa Claus’ sled gets stuck in traffic.

Other scenes show a man breaking bones as he slips while ice skating, a woman being dragged off by a tram after her coat gets caught in the door and a man hanging from his feet after he tried to put up Christmas lights on his house.

Customers are then advised to escape the festive “madness” and “hide out in McDonald’s till January’s here.”

The humorous take on the festive period did not go down well with some social media users, some of whom denounced the use of AI to create it.

One X user, Ian Fisch, called it “unsettling” while another, Richard Roeper said that McDonald’s succeeded if it was going for “creepy,” “poorly edited” and “inauthentic” content.

Even setting aside the AI “slop,” the ad itself came across as “so cynical and unfun,” British voice actor Jon Cartwright wrote on X.

“Regardless of being made with AI, this is just a bad idea for a commercial,” another X user, Bobby Stapleton, said in a post. Most people enjoy Christmas and “nobody wants negative vibes,” he added.

After hearing the feedback, McDonald’s Netherlands said in an email to NBC News on Wednesday that it had removed the ad.

While “it was intended to reflect the stressful moments that can occur during the holidays in the Netherlands,” the company recognizes “that for many of our guests, the season is ‘the most wonderful time of the year,'” it said.

The short film was created for McDonald’s Netherlands by the U.S. production company The Sweetshop Films and the Dutch advertising agency TBWA/Neboko.

Neither company responded immediately when NBC News reached out for comment Thursday.

But Sweetshop Films CEO Melanie Bridge defended the use of AI in a LinkedIn post, the Agence France Presse news agency reported Wednesday.

“It’s never about replacing craft, it’s about expanding the toolbox. The vision, the taste, the leadership… that will always be human,” AFP quoted Bridge as saying in the post which has subsequently been deleted.

“And here’s the part people don’t see: the hours that went into this job far exceeded a traditional shoot. Ten people, five weeks, full-time.”

And some social media users expressed sympathy for the production team.

“This is absolutely devastating for the AI artists who put their time and effort into creating this,” wrote one X user, posting under the name Chris.

“Yes, it was AI generated, but there were still real people behind it making creative decisions, refining prompts, and crafting the final piece,” the user added.

Others were quick to argue back with comments raising broader concerns of AI’s impact on the creative job market.

AI-generated content has become increasingly popular in advertising, with major corporations like Coca-Cola using the technology.

After facing significant backlash last year, the soft drinks giant steered clear of showing AI humans close up. Instead computer generated polar bears, rabbits, and squirrels took center stage this year.