McDonald's Creepy Ad

Truth be told, the core insight behind the controversial McDonald's AI ad isn't wrong. Christmas can be incredibly stressful.

For me, Christmas is comparable to the Chinese New Year celebrations. Yes, it’s about family gatherings, but the lead-up is intense: the spring cleaning, the logistics, and preparing the red packets (ouch! 💸)

So, the ad was "disaster" as it feels like a classic case of experimenting with Generative AI without keeping a Human in the Loop (HITL). The AI was logical - it generated the requested imagery of chaos but it missed the human element.

The holiday season is a balance. Despite the stressful preparation, there is always a "light at the end of the tunnel", that moment when you finally sit down with family and friends. The AI focused so heavily on the nightmare visuals that it forgot to make the relief feel earned or human.

We can use AI to build the scene, but we still need humans to humanize it...

Your thoughts?

#AI #Marketing #HumanInTheLoop