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ARTICLE AD BOX
McDonald’s Netherlands has pulled down its AI-generated Christmas ad after facing backlash from customers online. The 45-second video was posted on Google’s YouTube earlier this week.
It depicted AI-created characters struggling through holiday mishaps before turning to McDonald’s outlets. Viewers were quick to object and criticise the ad’s visuals and theme, calling it ‘AI slop”. According to report, the backlash grew rapidly on social media, forcing the company to pull down the ad within just three days of release. In a similar incident last month, Coca-Cola faced criticism for its AI-sloppy Christmas ad.
It showed anthropomorphic animals gazing in rapt admiration at the arrival of red Coca-Cola trucks. The ad campaign angered social media who labeled it disgusting’.
McDonald’s accepts mistake
In its defense, McDonald’s said that the campaign was meant to reflect holiday stress in the Netherlands but admitted the execution had missed the mark. In a statement shared with multiple news outlets, McDonald’s Netherlands said it decided to take down the AI-generated Christmas advert, adding, “It was intended to reflect the stressful moments that can occur during the holidays in the Netherlands, but we recognize that for many of our guests, the season is ‘the most wonderful time of the year.
’ We respect that and remain committed to creating experiences that offer Good Times and Good Food for everyone.”According to reports, the McDonald’s Christmas ad was created by Amsterdam, Netherlands-based advertising agency TBWA\Neboko and Auckland, New Zealand-based production agency The Sweetshop. In a statement (deleted now), Sweetshop wrote that its team “hardly slept” for seven weeks creating the ad, Forbes and Futurism reported. “We generated what felt like dailies—thousands of takes—then shaped them in the edit just as we would on any high-craft production,” it said. “This wasn’t an AI trick. It was a film.”
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