The Fast-Food Giant Removes AI-Created Christmas Ad Following Backlash.
McDonald's has removed a holiday advertisement made using AI after facing significant public disapproval.
The 45-second ad was created with the help of AI-generated video and was first published online for McDonald's Netherlands on 6 December.
Audience Reaction and Decision to Pull
Shortly after its release, commenters lambasted the use of AI in the advert. A number of described it as "creepy" and "jarringly assembled".
"This moment serves as an important lesson as we investigate the proper use of Artificial Intelligence," commented a spokesperson from McDonald's Netherlands.
The advert was developed for McDonald's by Netherlands-based agency TBWA\Neboko and US production company The Sweetshop. It showed a series of things that might go awry over the Christmas break, with the theme "the worst time of the year".
A Growing Trend of AI in Advertising
Campaigns that feature AI tools have become a increasing trend among large corporations, notably for the holiday campaign season.
- Coca-Cola has recently released back-to-back AI-created Christmas commercials.
- Inherent Limitations: As videos produced with current AI video tools are susceptible to degrade the longer they run, the majority of AI video outputs tend to be roughly short in length.
- Industry Concerns: The ad also provoked worries about job displacement in the advertising industry, with some critics stating it could negatively impact work for production staff.
Response from the Creators
After the ad being taken down, The Sweetshop's CEO, Melanie Bridge, stood by the advert.
She stated, the creation took "over a month and a half" and involved generating "thousands of takes" which were then shaped in post-production "in the same way we would on any high-craft production".
"This wasn't just an AI trick," Bridge asserted. "It was a proper commercial."
Mixed Audience Sentiment
While the Dutch McDonald's ad was largely criticized, the sentiment for some AI-assisted campaigns has been more mixed.
For instance, a consecutive AI-generated Christmas spot from Coca-Cola according to analysis achieved a significant "favorable response" from online commenters.
However, several companies have likewise received backlash for using the technique in their campaigns. Luxury brand Valentino, for example, was criticized for ads that some called "cheap" and "disturbing".
The incident illustrates the ongoing discussion within the marketing and production industries about the trade-off between new tools and human craftsmanship.
