McDonald’s Gets Eviscerated Over AI-Generated Christmas Commercial, Whines About How Hard It Was To Make After Pulling It

Another instance where bullying is sometimes a good thing.

It’s safe to say that the era of artificial intelligence is officially upon us. We’ve got AI infiltrating the music industry, and we’ve got AI-generated commercials all over. Just last night, I was watching TV and there were two ads that popped up during one commercial break that both openly shared (in tiny text at the bottom of the screen) that they were made using artificial intelligence.

Is this just how it’s going to be from here on out?

Seems like a pretty sad existence to me. Companies are going to try and take every shortcut they can, yet still get the word out about their products, and we’re going to be left to comb through the AI slop on our screens. The only way to stop it is to push back against organizations using AI, and I’ve got good news… there’s a real-life example of that very thing already working.

McDonald’s Netherlands rolled out a 45-second advertisement that was called “The Most Terrible Time of the Year.” The commercial featured all kinds of holiday-happenings-gone-wrong and invited viewers to seek refuge in a McDonald’s until the Christmas season was over. It’s one of the most AI-generated things you’ll ever see:

You can’t spell Christmas without AI.

As you might imagine, those that came across the ad didn’t like how one of the biggest businesses in the world (worth over $200 billion) felt like that commercial was good enough to share with consumers. Social media users were blasting the video as it was reposted online, and McDonald’s even turned the comments off on YouTube, where they posted it for all to see.

They actually deleted the video entirely only three days after they posted it online.

Gardening Club, the studio behind the ad, defended the final product by saying that it took humans “seven intense weeks” to bring the AI-advertisement to life and that “the man-hours poured into this film were more than a traditional production.” Then Melanie Bridge, the CEO of The Sweetshop (Gardening Club’s parent company), took to Instagram to further detail and stand up for the AI-slop, saying:

“The hours that went into this job far exceeded a traditional shoot. Ten people, five weeks, full-time. Blood, sweat, tears, and an honestly ridiculous amount of coaxing to get the models to behave and to honor the creative brief shot by shot.”

You have got to be kidding me. If it’s going to take that many people and that long to “shoot” a 45-second advertisement using artificial intelligence, JUST GO SHOOT THE THING WITH REAL PEOPLE. Why spend all that time, and lose all that sleep to make an AI commercial? Because it’s cheaper… that’s it.

If you thought people were mad about the commercial itself, those two arguments in defense of the McDonald’s ad only got folks even more riled up. Why? Because Christmas ads used to make you feel something, and evoke holiday spirit. Now, you’ve got both McDonald’s and Coca-Cola basically mailing it in and trusting AI to take over their rich tradition. I hate to say it, but if these two massive brands are comfortable and have no shame using artificial intelligence, we’re not too far away from every ad on television looking something like the one above.

Coca-Cola rolled out an AI-generated advertisement for the second year in a row, even after they caught a lot of flack for doing so in 2024. The fine folks on Team “Please Use Real People” weren’t able to bully them into walking it back like they were with this newest McDonald’s atrocity. It just makes me sad, you know? It certainly feels like holiday spirit is on life support, and Coca-Cola and McDonald’s – who should be upholding tradition – are leading the rest of the world into a lifeless, bland, AI-generated existence.

If that sounds like a terrible place to you, then we’ve just got to keep reacting to AI-generated slop like we did with McDonald’s “Most Terrible Time of the Year” ad spot..The post McDonald’s Gets Eviscerated Over AI-Generated Christmas Commercial, Whines About How Hard It Was To Make After Pulling It first appeared on Whiskey Riff.