McDonald's Netherlands released a 45-second Christmas ad made entirely with generative AI. The internet called it creepy, soulless, and worse than Coca-Cola's AI ads. McDonald's disabled comments, pulled the video, and called it "an important learning." The production company defended the work, then deleted the defense. We break down what went wrong and why even the directors are distancing themselves.Join our FREE Business Community - https://whop.com/apex-content/
Episode Transcript
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Thank you so much. McDonald's in Netherlands
released a Christmas ad made entirely.
With generative AI. And the Internet completely
ripped it apart so fast that thecompany pulled it within days.
(01:28):
Now this 45 second spot was titled the most terrible time of
the year and featured AI generated people suffering
through holiday disasters. Now that made me want to see
where this was going. Comments were disabled on the
YouTube channel before the videowas eventually delisted.
Now the production company issued A defensive statement,
(01:48):
then deleted that one too. So what went wrong that
McDonald's had to scrub the ad, the defense and any trace of
confidence from this entire campaign?
The ad was created by Dutch agency called TBWA Nibocco and
AUS production company called The Sweet Shop and 1 executive
claimed 10 people spent seven weeks sleepless weeks making it.
(02:12):
Now we're going to go through what the ad actually showed, why
the backlash was so intense and what McDonald's said when they
pulled the plug and we'll get right into that right after this
short break. Now McDonald's Neverland,
Netherlands tried to make a Christmas ad using.
Gen. AI.
The concept was dark humor aboutholiday stress.
Family's presents fly off a car roof when they hit a low bridge.
(02:35):
Carol singers lose their sheet music to the wind.
Santa gets stuck in traffic. A man slips on ice and breaks
some bones. A woman's coat gets caught in a
tram door and she gets dragged away.
Now picture AI generated faces cycling through scenes so fast
you can barely register what's happening before the next
disaster arrives. Now generative AI video has a
(02:58):
problem with continuity. The technology loses coherence
after a few seconds, so creatorscut rapidly between short clips
to hide the glitches. The pacing has become a.
Tell of. AI generated video, the
McDonald's ad leaned into it andthe result looked like what 1
critic called a visual seizure. The faces were off, the physics
(03:20):
didn't make sense. The AI generated characters
moved through scenes with the uncanny valley problem where
everyone looks almost human but also looks creepy and almost not
quite right, and the backlash hit immediately.
One user on X said the commercial single handedly
ruined by Christmas spirit. Film critic Richard Roper wrote
(03:43):
that if McDonald's was going forcreepy, depressing, deeply
unfunny, clumsily shot, poorly edited and inauthentic, they
completely nailed it. And conservative commentator
Matt Walsh called it awful and said there was no artistry, no
wit, no charm, no warmth, no humanity.
Another user said McDonald's should be ashamed for releasing
that slop. The word slop kept coming up.
(04:07):
It's become shorthand for AI generated content that feels
cheap and completely soulless. McDonald's disabled the comments
on YouTube. Then they made the video
completely private. Somebody could see it.
Then they issued a statement explaining the decision.
They said the ad was intended toreflect the stressful moments
that can occur during the holidays in the.
Netherlands, but. Acknowledged that for many of
(04:28):
our guests, the season is the most wonderful time of the year.
They called the incident an important learning as we explore
the effective use of AI. So corporate right now.
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The production company tried to defend the work before deleting
that defense. Melanie Bridge, CEO of The Sweet
(05:11):
Shop, which I talked about earlier, posted a statement
saying the ad took seven weeks, with up to 10 AI specialists
working full time. They said that they generated
thousands of takes and shaped them in the edit, just as we
would on any high craft production.
Seeing, she insisted this was not an AI trick, it was a film.
(05:32):
She wrote that when craft and technology meet with intention,
they can create work that feels genuinely cinematic.
And that statement is now unavailable.
But here's another wrinkle. The director is credited on the
project. A duo called Mama Mama told
Petapixel they were misquoted. They said the quotes belong to
Melanie Bridge and her team. The project was finished without
(05:56):
our creative input. They said it was unfortunate
their names were being attached to it.
So even the people credited withdirecting the ad are distancing
themselves from it now. McDonald's corporate was careful
about how they frame the mess. In this statement, they
specifically said the commercialwas produced for McDonald's
Netherlands and asked reporters to reference the brand as
(06:17):
McDonald's Netherlands in their coverage.
Now that's damage control, and the parent company wants
distance from the Netherlands division.
Whether that means the US headquarters approved the
experiment or not is unclear, but the instance on naming the
Netherlands branch suggests someone wants a firewall between
global McDonald's and this backlash.
(06:38):
Now the broader question is whether consumers will
eventually accept AI generated ads or whether the backlash will
hold up now. Some people think that companies
are trickling out AI content to normalize it over time.
Others think the uncanny valley problem will keep audiences
rejecting this kind of work until the technology improves
dramatically. McDonald's learned something
(06:59):
from this experiment, even if the lesson is just that people
hate watching glitchy AI faces try to sell them burgers during
the holidays. And whether that changes
anything at the corporate level is a different question.
The ad's completely gone. Nobody can see it.
The defense is gone, nobody can read it.
The only thing left is the phrase important, learning and a
(07:20):
lot of. Screenshots.
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