5 AI Advertising Controversies That Turned Heads This Year

Chief marketing officers at lots of the world’s greatest manufacturers made synthetic intelligence a centerpiece of their methods this yr.

For some manufacturers, the passion bumped into dangerous territory. From AI-generated adverts that veered into the “uncanny valley” to backlash over changing human fashions and advertising creatives, AI’s rising position in promoting fueled a string of controversial advertising and marketing moments. The AI backlash even led to its personal advertising and marketing development: manufacturers hating on AI.

A survey of greater than 6,000 US customers carried out by the brand-tracking platform Tracksuit in November discovered that overall sentiment towards AI-generated promoting skewed unfavourable (39%). Neutrality was additionally sturdy amongst respondents, at 36%, whereas solely 18% felt constructive about manufacturers utilizing AI-generated content material of their adverts.

Matt Barash, chief business officer of the adtech platform Nova, mentioned that whereas AI could be a useful gizmo for getting and putting adverts, manufacturers ought to be cautious when making an attempt to automate the inventive course of.

“When manufacturers ask AI to invent tales from scratch, they do not get innovation — they get an approximation of human emotion, and the end result could make headlines for the entire incorrect causes,” Barash mentioned.

Certainly, a number of main entrepreneurs did make the information for his or her AI-related mishaps this yr. Check out a number of the most notable AI promoting controversies of the yr, under.

McDonald’s ‘most horrible’ AI vacation advert

McDonald’s Netherlands cooked up an AI-generated vacation advert this month — and shortly despatched it again to the kitchen when it grew to become clear that viewers weren’t lovin’ it.

The “most horrible time of the yr” advert was supposed to be a satirical tackle Christmas calamities that might happen over the festive interval. The 45-second spot featured a quickfire montage of cooking mishaps, damaged bones on the ice rink, and Santa’s sleigh getting caught in a site visitors jam. The model recommended its eating places may act as a shelter from the chaos. “Conceal out in McDonald’s ’til January’s right here,” the advert’s narrator mentioned.

Some social media commentators denounced the fast-food chain as a McGrinch, complaining the advert had a cynical sentiment and “creepy” characters. After initially turning off the feedback on the advert’s YouTube video, McDonald’s later eliminated the advert from the positioning altogether.

In an announcement, McDonald’s Netherlands mentioned that whereas the advert was supposed to mirror a number of the aggravating moments that the vacations can convey, it acknowledged that lots of its prospects really feel the season is “probably the most fantastic time of the yr.”

“We respect that and stay dedicated to creating experiences that supply Good Occasions and Good Meals for everybody,” the assertion mentioned.

Coca-Cola’s metamorphosing vacation vans

Coca-Cola already had one AI-generated holiday ad misfire underneath its belt, after final yr’s “Holidays are Coming” rendition was criticized as “dystopian” and “soulless.” Regardless of that, this yr it launched three AI-generated vacation adverts.

One of many adverts, one other AI rendition of the basic “Holidays are Coming” spot, caught the eye of the eagle-eyed inventive group as a consequence of its lack of consistency. Certain, the wheels on the vans went spherical and spherical — a criticism of final yr’s advert was that they appeared to glide throughout the highway — however additionally they appeared to alter in amount because the advert rolled on.

Within the spirit of Christmas, Dino Burbidge, an unbiased innovation specialist, shared the reward of this useful graphic to assist everybody observe alongside:

PJ Pereira, cofounder of Silverside AI, the manufacturing firm behind the advert, defended Coca-Cola’s use of AI in an announcement.

“Coca-Cola grew to become a pioneer on this house as a result of, as soon as they acknowledged AI as the longer term, they stopped debating whether or not it is excellent or not — and as an alternative targeted on how one can use it in one of the best, most inventive means attainable,” Pereira mentioned.

Pereira additionally mentioned that the advert carried out nicely with customers in testing. System1, which charges adverts on a scale from 1 to five.9 stars on their potential to drive long-term progress for manufacturers, gave the 2025 “Holidays are Coming” adverts the very best attainable rating: 5.9. A separate inventive testing firm, DAIVID, mentioned the advert generated higher-than-average consideration and model recall scores.

Take that, haters!

Meta’s AI granny advert: a real basic of the style

Attire model True Basic is a poster little one of digital efficiency advertising and marketing, honing platforms like Fb and Instagram to construct a group of devoted prospects — usually males ages 30 to 45.

So think about its advertising and marketing chief’s shock when he realized Meta’s advert platform had swapped out his top-performing advert — a millennial man in an identical fleece set, casually posing on a stool — with that of a cheerful, but clearly AI-generated granny sitting in an armchair.

Advertisers instructed Enterprise Insider earlier this yr that settings inside Meta’s Advantage+ suite of AI-powered advert merchandise had led to the platform mechanically producing advert creatives on their behalf.

In an announcement, Meta mentioned that advertisers who use its full picture era function can overview the pictures earlier than working their adverts.

However three advertisers additionally instructed Enterprise Insider they’d encountered an issue the place Meta mechanically switched these toggles to “on,” even once they’d explicitly turned them off — that means they inadvertently spent a few of their budgets on AI-generated adverts they did not intend to run.

H&M’s assault of the clones

AI has helped take airbrushing to the subsequent stage. Some manufacturers are experimenting with utilizing generative AI to eradicate photograph shoots altogether — with blended outcomes.

Take fast-fashion retailer H&M. In March, the corporate introduced a plan to create “digital twins” of 30 fashions whose photos might be used for social media posts and advert campaigns. H&M mentioned the fashions would personal the rights to their twins, which would come with the power to permit different manufacturers to make use of them.

H&M was conscious that the transfer can be controversial.

“Individuals shall be divided. , ‘Is that this good? Is that this dangerous?'” Jörgen Andersson, H&M chief inventive officer, instructed Enterprise of Trend on the time.

H&M definitely bought chins wagging. American fashion influencer Morgan Riddle described the plan as “shameful.” Sara Ziff, founding father of Mannequin Alliance, a nonprofit that focuses on staff’ rights within the vogue business, mentioned the plan raised “critical issues.”

“In an business that has traditionally been a backwater for staff’ rights, H&M’s new initiative raises crucial questions on consent and compensation, and has the potential to switch a bunch of vogue staff — together with make-up artists, hair stylists, and different inventive artists in our group,” Ziff mentioned in an announcement.

In an announcement despatched to Enterprise Insider for this text, an H&M spokesperson mentioned that the model was exploring how generative AI can assist the inventive course of in considerate and accountable methods.

“We acknowledge that generative AI raises necessary questions and issues, and we need to be clear in acknowledging that we don’t but have all of the solutions, however are persevering with to study and evolve,” the H&M spokesperson mentioned.

Strike a pose, Vogue

H&M wasn’t the one vogue model to offer AI fashions a twirl this yr.

Readers flicking by means of the August 2025 concern of Vogue seen adverts for Guess carried a small label/disclaimer: “Produced by Seraphinne Vallora on AI.” The fashions, “Vivienne” and “Anastasia,” have been created utilizing AI by a London-based AI advertising and marketing company.

Social media customers slammed the advert, saying the pictures pushed unrealistic magnificence requirements and that the usage of AI imagery portended dangerous information for inventive business jobs. Some on-line commenters mentioned they might cancel their Vogue subscriptions in protest. (Vogue writer Condé Nast mentioned on the time that an AI mannequin had by no means appeared “editorially” in Vogue.)

The cofounders of Seraphinne Vallora mentioned in an interview with “Good Morning America” that they have been trying to complement the modeling business, not exchange it.

“We’re right here to co-exist collectively, and we’ll at all times see images, stylists, and everybody concerned in a photograph shoot as extremely necessary,” mentioned Valentina Gonzalez, one of many cofounders.

AI models and the controversies surrounding them weren’t a brand new promoting phenomenon for 2025. Manufacturers reminiscent of Mango and Levi’s have additionally confronted an identical backlash for that includes AI-generated models of their advertising and marketing lately. A brand new development does seem like rising, although. Model partnerships with AI social accounts dropped by round 30% within the first eight months of 2025 in comparison with the identical interval in 2024, in response to transaction knowledge from tons of of campaigns supplied by the influencer-marketing platform Collabstr.

Might AI fashions be the newest fast-fashion casualty?