McDonald’s has been forced to take down a Christmas advert made with artificial intelligence following fierce online backlash.

The 45-second ad was produced with generative AI clips and released publicly on McDonald’s Netherlands YouTube channel on last week.

Viewers were quick to condemn the ad and its use of AI, with one commenter describing it as “the most godawful ad I’ve seen this year”.

On December 9, just three days after the ad was launched, McDonald’s Netherlands removed the video, saying it and its reaction served as “an important learning”.

Created for McDonald’s Netherlands by Dutch company TBWA\Neboko and US production company The Sweetshop, the advert – tagged “the most terrible time of the year” – depicted a festive season that isn’t always picture-perfect.

Featuring a song parody of Andy Williams’ The Most Wonderful Time of the Year accompanied by unsettling scenarios, the ad suggests the time might be better spent in the company of McDonald’s.

Viewers criticised the film’s uncanny-looking characters and stitched-together clips, calling it “creepy” and “poorly edited”.

“Their ad’s message? ‘Hahaha doesn’t Christmas suck? We don’t, though!’ Just a horrible idea in concept & in execution,” one viewer commented.

Viewers described the AI-generated ad as “creepy”. Photo: McDonalds Netherlands 

McDonald’s Netherlands said the commercial was “intended to reflect the stressful moments that can occur during the holidays in the Netherlands”, but “we recognise 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,” it said.

”This moment serves as an important learning as we explore the effective use of AI.”

Following the video being pulled, The Sweetshop CEO Melanie Bridge defended it as a “high-craft production”.

“This wasn’t an AI trick, it was a film,” she told Futurism.

The McDonald’s Netherlands commercial condemnation comes just weeks after Coca-Cola released its own, eyebrow-raising, AI-generated Christmas ad.

Coke was accused online of stripping away the familiarity and warmth of its iconic holiday commercials.

Pratik Thakar, Coca-Cola’s global vice president and head of generative AI, defended the ad, telling US Today program: “Coca-Cola embraces innovation with AI-powered storytelling, bringing beloved holiday traditions and new festive narratives to life”.

“Our new and refreshed ‘Holidays are Coming’ adverts blend our heritage with modern innovation, demonstrating a unique collaboration of human creativity and cutting-edge generative AI,” he said.