The sight of the Coca-Cola truck coming around the bend in famous Christmas ad, has left people feeling cold instead of warm with festive cheer, this year. Picture: X/@TechHalla
Coca-Cola’s recent attempt at evoking nostalgia with their latest Christmas commercial, a recreation of their 1995 “Holidays are coming” campaign, has sparked a wave of criticism from social media users who claim the ad is soulless and dystopian.
The global beverage brand’s 15-second commercial was created through generative AI technology, featuring entirely AI-generated visuals, and instead of inspiring the festive cheer that is traditionally associated with the brand.
It has been criticised for lacking warmth.
The ad, which features a whimsical winter wonderland scene, has been described by many as “artificial” in tone.
While Coca-Cola maintains the traditional festive imagery it is known for, including snow, reindeer, and cheerful holiday scenes, many viewers feel that it is missing a magic that cannot be replicated by machines.
One user on X (formerly Twitter) commented, “Coca-Cola has always been about the magic of Christmas. You killed this magic.”
The sentiment echoed across multiple platforms, a viewer on YouTube also said: “Sad to see this was made with AI. It feels like the soul of Christmas is missing”.
In comparison to the 90s commercial, a number of details on the newest one just seem “off”, such as the truck wheels gliding across the ground without spinning in the opening shot, and the distorted proportions and appearance of the bystander’s hands as they clutch the coke bottles.
Many social media users have criticised the irony of their slogan “Real Magic” at the end when the ad is anything but “real”.
Furthermore, viewers have expressed disappointment that such a big brand might rely on machines instead of real artists to create their holiday imagery, citing that the innovation will put a lot of artists out of work.
Responding to the ad, Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch joked on X that Coca-Cola was red because it is made “from the blood of out-of-work artists.”
Megan Cruz of the art-centred podcast The Broad Perspective Pod wrote: “This is always what [AI] was going to be used for btw. It’s not some great equalizer. It’s a way for already massively wealthy execs to add a few more mil to their annual bonuses by cutting creative teams entirely & having a machine vomit up the most boring slop imaginable instead.”
Despite the backlash, Coca-Cola remains firm in its embrace of innovation.
According to The Independent, Javier Meza, the EU chief marketing officer at Coca-Cola, said that the brand was adapting to “today’s times” by incorporating AI.
He added that AI was an “efficient” way of creating the advert while saving time and money.
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