McDonald’s AI Christmas Ad Sparks Backlash and Gets Pulled Offline
So, here’s what’s been happening with McDonald’s lately — and it’s honestly a bit wild. The company rolled out a new Christmas advert in the Netherlands, but instead of the usual warm holiday vibes, they went all-in on generative AI. The entire 45-second spot was made from stitched-together AI clips. And as you might guess, the internet did not take it well.
The ad was released on December 6, and from the moment it hit YouTube, viewers started calling it everything from “creepy” to “the most god-awful ad I’ve seen this year.” The video had only around 20,000 views, but the mockery spread fast. People criticized the strange, uncanny characters, the rapid-fire scenes, and the bizarre visual glitches that tend to show up when AI tries to imitate reality. It basically became a showcase of all the things that make AI videos feel unsettling — the weird physics, the off-putting faces, and the chaotic editing that jumps every few seconds because longer AI clips usually fall apart.
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By December 9, the backlash had become so intense that McDonald’s Netherlands shut down the comment section and then removed the video entirely. In a statement, the company said the whole experience had been “an important learning” as it continues to explore AI’s role in advertising. In other words, it was politely admitting the experiment didn’t land.
But the story didn’t end there. The Sweetshop, the US-based production company behind the ad, jumped in to defend the project. Their CEO explained that the team spent seven weeks working on it, barely sleeping, generating thousands of AI clips, and editing them together as if it were any traditional, high-craft film. According to them, this wasn’t just some AI gimmick — it was a legitimate production. They insisted that, despite the backlash, the result should be seen as “cinematic” and a sign of what’s possible when tech and creativity meet intentionally.
Of course, a lot of viewers weren’t convinced. Some were worried about what this means for filmmakers and actors, especially after seeing an ad with no human performers, no camera operators, and no traditional crew. Others were simply frustrated that a big brand chose a jarring AI experiment over hiring real people to make something meaningful.
Interestingly, McDonald’s has played with AI before — like when its Mexico division joined the Studio Ghibli-style AI meme trend earlier this year, which also didn’t go over well. And they’re not the only brand experimenting. Coca-Cola, for example, has leaned heavily into AI for its Christmas campaigns, though with more positive reaction.
But in this case, the message from the public seems loud and clear: if we have to watch ads everywhere during the holidays, they might as well be crafted by actual humans.
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