5 AI advertising controversies that turned heads this year, from Meta's AI granny to Coca-Cola's shape-shifting trucks

• Marketers embraced AI in 2025.
• There were also some high-profile AI hiccups in advertising.
• From McDonald's to Meta, here's a look at major brands that had AI ad controversies this year.

Chief marketing officers at many of the world's biggest brands made artificial intelligence a centerpiece of their strategies this year.

For some brands, the enthusiasm ran into risky territory. From AI-generated ads that veered into the "uncanny valley" to backlash over replacing human models and advertising creatives, AI's growing role in advertising fueled a string of controversial marketing moments. The AI backlash even led to its own marketing trend: brands hating on AI.

A survey of more than 6,000 US consumers conducted by the brand-tracking platform Tracksuit in November found that overall sentiment toward AI-generated advertising skewed negative (39%). Neutrality was also strong among respondents, at 36%, while only 18% felt positive about brands using AI-generated content in their ads.

Matt Barash, chief commercial officer of the adtech platform Nova, said that while AI can be a useful tool for buying and placing ads, brands should be cautious when attempting to automate the creative process.

"When brands ask AI to invent stories from scratch, they don't get innovation — they get an approximation of human emotion, and the result can make headlines for all of the wrong reasons," Barash said.

Indeed, several major marketers did make the news for their AI-related mishaps this year. Take a look at some of the most notable AI advertising controversies of the year, below.

McDonald's 'most terrible' AI holiday ad

McDonald's Netherlands cooked up an AI-generated holiday ad this month — and quickly sent it back to the kitchen when it became clear that viewers weren't lovin' it.

The "most terrible time of the year" ad was intended to be a satirical take on Christmas calamities that could occur over the festive period. The 45-second spot featured a quickfire montage of cooking mishaps, broken bones at the ice rink, and Santa's sleigh getting stuck in a traffic jam. The brand suggested its restaurants could act as a shelter from the chaos. "Hide out in McDonald's 'til January's here," the ad's narrator said.

Some social media commentators denounced the fast-food chain as a McGrinch, complaining the ad had a cynical sentiment and "creepy" characters. After initially turning off the comments on the ad's YouTube video, McDonald's later removed the ad from the site altogether.

In a statement, McDonald's Netherlands said that while the ad was intended to reflect some of the stressful moments that the holidays can bring, it recognized that many of its customers feel 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," the statement said.

Coca-Cola's metamorphosing holiday trucks

Coca-Cola already had one AI-generated holiday ad misfire under its belt, after last year's "Holidays are Coming" rendition was criticized as "dystopian" and "soulless." Despite that, this year it released three AI-generated holiday ads.

One of the ads, another AI rendition of the classic "Holidays are Coming" spot, caught the attention of the eagle-eyed creative community due to its lack of consistency. Sure, the wheels on the trucks went round and round — a criticism of last year's ad was that they appeared to glide across the road — but they also appeared to change in quantity as the ad rolled on.

In the spirit of Christmas, Dino Burbidge, an independent innovation specialist, shared the gift of this handy graphic to help everyone follow along:

PJ Pereira, cofounder of Silverside AI, the production company behind the ad, defended Coca-Cola's use of AI in a statement.

"Coca-Cola became a pioneer in this space because, once they recognized AI as the future, they stopped debating whether it's perfect or not — and instead focused on how to use it in the best, most creative way possible," Pereira said.

Pereira also said that the ad performed well with consumers in testing. System1, which rates ads on a scale from 1 to 5.9 stars on their potential to drive long-term growth for brands, gave the 2025 "Holidays are Coming" ads the highest possible score: 5.9. A separate creative testing company, DAIVID, said the ad generated higher-than-average attention and brand recall scores.

Take that, haters!

Meta's AI granny ad: a true classic of the genre

Apparel brand True Classic is a poster child of digital performance marketing, honing platforms like Facebook and Instagram to build a community of devoted customers — typically men ages 30 to 45.

So imagine its marketing chief's shock when he realized Meta's ad platform had swapped out his top-performing ad — a millennial man in a matching fleece set, casually posing on a stool — with that of a cheerful, yet clearly AI-generated granny sitting in an armchair.

Advertisers told Business Insider earlier this year that settings within Meta's Advantage+ suite of AI-powered ad products had led to the platform automatically generating ad creatives on their behalf.

In a statement, Meta said that advertisers who use its full image generation feature can review the images before running their ads.

But three advertisers also told Business Insider they'd encountered a problem where Meta automatically switched those toggles to "on," even when they'd explicitly turned them off — meaning they inadvertently spent some of their budgets on AI-generated ads they didn't intend to run.

H&M's attack of the clones

AI has helped take airbrushing to the next level. Some brands are experimenting with using generative AI to eliminate photo shoots altogether — with mixed results.

Take fast-fashion retailer H&M. In March, the company announced a plan to create "digital twins" of 30 models whose images could be used for social media posts and ad campaigns. H&M said the models would own the rights to their twins, which would include the ability to allow other brands to use them.

H&M was aware that the move would be controversial.

"People will be divided. You know, 'Is this good? Is this bad?'" Jörgen Andersson, H&M chief creative officer, told Business of Fashion at the time.

H&M certainly got chins wagging. American fashion influencer Morgan Riddle described the plan as "shameful." Sara Ziff, founder of Model Alliance, a nonprofit that focuses on workers' rights in the fashion industry, said the plan raised "serious concerns."

"In an industry that has historically been a backwater for workers' rights, H&M's new initiative raises critical questions about consent and compensation, and has the potential to replace a host of fashion workers — including make-up artists, hair stylists, and other creative artists in our community," Ziff said in a statement.

In a statement sent to Business Insider for this article, an H&M spokesperson said that the brand was exploring how generative AI can support the creative process in thoughtful and responsible ways.

"We recognize that generative AI raises important questions and concerns, and we want to be transparent in acknowledging that we do not yet have all the answers, but are continuing to learn and evolve," the H&M spokesperson said.

Strike a pose, Vogue

H&M wasn't the only fashion brand to give AI models a twirl this year.

Readers flicking through the August 2025 issue of Vogue noticed ads for Guess carried a small label/disclaimer: "Produced by Seraphinne Vallora on AI." The models, "Vivienne" and "Anastasia," were created using AI by a London-based AI marketing agency.

Social media users slammed the ad, saying the images pushed unrealistic beauty standards and that the use of AI imagery portended bad news for creative industry jobs. Some online commenters said they would cancel their Vogue subscriptions in protest. (Vogue publisher Condé Nast said at the time that an AI model had never appeared "editorially" in Vogue.)

The cofounders of Seraphinne Vallora said in an interview with "Good Morning America" that they were looking to supplement the modeling industry, not replace it.

"We are here to co-exist together, and we will always see photography, stylists, and everyone involved in a photo shoot as incredibly important," said Valentina Gonzalez, one of the cofounders.

AI models and the controversies surrounding them weren't a new advertising phenomenon for 2025. Brands such as Mango and Levi's have also faced a similar backlash for featuring AI-generated models in their marketing in recent years. A new trend does appear to be emerging, though. Brand partnerships with AI social accounts dropped by around 30% in the first eight months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to transaction data from hundreds of campaigns provided by the influencer-marketing platform Collabstr.

Could AI models be the latest fast-fashion casualty?