If you find yourself stressed during the holiday season, McDonald’s might be the solution — or at least that was the message from an AI-generated advertisement that has since been pulled, as noted by Futurism.
Accompanied by a tune labeling the holiday season as “the most awful time of the year,” the ad depicts AI-created individuals enduring various winter struggles, such as family gatherings, shopping excursions, singing carols, baking, and decorating a Christmas tree, each scenario ending in mishaps. The ad wraps up by suggesting viewers to “hide away in McDonald’s until January arrives.”
The McDonald’s ad for the Netherlands was taken down from YouTube, although it has been shared on other social media platforms, where feedback has largely been negative, critiquing not only the use of AI but also the ad’s message and quality. This reaction might not be unexpected, especially in light of the response to Coca-Cola’s latest AI-generated holiday advertisement.
However, unlike Coca-Cola’s advertisement, the McDonald’s ad made the risky choice to feature people instead of just animated forest animals. Many of the characters portrayed in the ad are not revisited, and some shots appear awkward, such as a segment showcasing an individual slipping while skating, whose limbs appear rubbery midway through the scene.
According to a LinkedIn post by The Gardening.club, the AI segment of The Sweetshop, the production company behind the ad, claimed that it required “seven intensive weeks” for completion. They even acknowledged that “the time invested in this film surpassed what a traditional shoot would entail.”
Melanie Bridge, CEO of The Sweetshop, shared comparable thoughts in an Instagram post, stating, “The time dedicated to this project was significantly beyond that of a typical shoot. Ten individuals, five weeks, full-time effort. A tremendous amount of effort, determination, and an honestly excessive amount of encouragement was required to motivate the models and adhere to the creative brief for each shot.”
