Coca-Cola's AI-Generated "Holidays Are Coming" Ad Draws Criticism, But Company Insists It's "Faster and Cheaper"

Coca-Cola has once again used AI generation technology to reinvent its iconic "Holidays Are Coming" holiday ad, but the move has seemingly sparked negative feedback from consumers, who describe the visual effects of the latest Christmas ad as "unsettling."

Last year, Coca-Cola faced criticism for its AI-generated holiday ad featuring "sliding wheels and eerie faces." This year, Coca-Cola attempted to avoid the challenge of creating realistic human characters by releasing a new ad titled "Holidays Are Coming" starring primarily animal characters.

However, the visual style of the new ad has been described as "chaotic," alternating between realistic and exaggerated aesthetics. The movements of the polar bears, pandas, and sloths are "highly unnatural," resembling rough 2D image animations rather than refined 3D CG models. Compared to advanced tools like OpenAI's Sora 2 or Google's Veo 3, Coca-Cola's video appears "very outdated."

The only "improvement" is that the wheels of the iconic Coca-Cola truck finally spin this year, rather than sliding statically over the snow as in previous years.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Coca-Cola collaborated with two AI studios, Silverside and Secret Level, on its latest holiday campaign. Notably, Coca-Cola declined to disclose the specific cost of the campaign but stated that approximately 100 people were involved in the project—an effort similar in scale to the company's previous non-AI production projects.

The team included five "AI specialists" from Silverside, who were responsible for prompting and refining over 70,000 AI-generated video clips.

Despite past controversies surrounding its ad campaigns (such as a April ad that fabricated a book by author J.G. Ballard), Coca-Cola remains firmly committed to AI technology.

Manolo Arroyo, Coca-Cola's Chief Marketing Officer, told The Wall Street Journal that the company views past missteps as worthwhile. He stated that compared to traditional production methods, their latest holiday ad campaign achieved lower costs and faster turnaround times.

"Previously, we typically needed to start a year in advance to film an ad and complete all project standard processes," Arroyo said. "Now, it can be done in about a month."

As AI tools rapidly evolve and gradually replace the manual work of creative professionals, concerns about future job opportunities have arisen. Google also launched its first fully AI-generated ad this year, claiming that consumers do not care whether ads use the technology.