Overview
- The 45-second spot, created by TBWA\NEBOKO and production house The Sweetshop, cast the holidays as “the most terrible time of the year” and urged viewers to “hide out in McDonald’s until January’s here.”
- Posted on Dec. 6, the video drew heavy criticism for its message and uncanny visuals, leading McDonald’s to disable comments and on Dec. 9 set the clip to private and remove it from its YouTube channel.
- McDonald’s Netherlands said the aim was to reflect stressful holiday moments and described the episode as an important lesson as it explores the effective use of AI.
- Viewers and journalists pointed to rapid, stitched micro-shots, distorted limbs, and other artifacts that underscored current limits of AI video continuity and emotional authenticity.
- The Sweetshop defended the work, saying a team spent weeks generating and refining thousands of takes—asserting, “This wasn’t an AI trick. It was a film”—as the incident fed a wider 2025 debate over big brands’ AI ads, including Coca‑Cola’s.