McDonald’s Netherlands removes AI-created holiday ad after social media mockery.
McDonald’s latest attempt at AI-driven advertising didn’t land. Their 45-second Netherlands Christmas spot has been pulled following relentless online criticism.
The ad, made entirely with generative AI by TBWA\Neboko, depicted a chaotic holiday season, packed with surreal visuals and glitchy sequences.
Rapidly changing scenes and grotesque character designs quickly drew scorn from viewers, who found it disorienting rather than festive.
Within days, the company disabled comments before taking down the video entirely.
Social media users were merciless. Comments called out the ad’s uncanny imagery, poor colour grading, and the awkward physics of AI-generated animation.
The production team defended their work, emphasising the intensive labour behind editing AI-generated “dailies” and insisting it was a legitimate creative process.
Still, public sentiment overwhelmingly favoured human-crafted content, highlighting that AI experiments can backfire spectacularly when pushed too far in mainstream marketing.
Beyond just this ad, the McDonald’s incident underscores a growing tension in the advertising world: AI can streamline production and generate concepts at lightning speed, but it often struggles to capture nuance, emotion, and cultural context.
Missteps like this fuel scepticism among consumers and creatives alike, raising questions about authenticity, audience connection, and whether relying on AI too heavily might ultimately erode brand trust rather than enhance it.
While AI continues to creep into advertising, McDonald’s misfire serves as a reminder that some holiday magic still needs a human touch.
