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Coca-Cola Doubles Down on Another AI Holiday Ad Following Last Year's Creative Backlash
Coca-Cola launches a new AI-generated holiday ad for 2025, a year after its first attempt sparked creative backlash for its "uncanny valley" aesthetic.
Key Points
- Coca-Cola launches a new AI-generated holiday ad for 2025, a year after its first attempt sparked creative backlash for its "uncanny valley" aesthetic.
- The company claims the technology is now "ten times better" and is driven by significant cost savings, with its previous AI ad produced for a tenth of the traditional price.
- To avoid criticism, the new commercial focuses on animals instead of humans, though the controversial 2024 ad generated billions of impressions for the brand.
- Coca-Cola is also running a traditional, non-AI ad in select markets, suggesting it is hedging its bets on the full adoption of AI in its campaigns.
Coca-Cola has launched its 2025 holiday campaign, led by a new AI-generated "Holidays Are Coming" commercial, a year after its first attempt sparked a creative backlash, as first reported by Marketing Dive. The company is betting that improved technology and a focus on animals over humans will win over critics.
Backlash meets billions: The 2024 version wandered deep into the uncanny valley, sparking a backlash from creatives who decried its soulless aesthetic. But the controversy also fueled billions of impressions, giving Coke a powerful business reason to try again.
Better, faster, cheaper: Executives claim the technology is now "ten times better," Pratik Thakar, Coke's head of generative AI, told The Hollywood Reporter. The real driver, however, appears to be cost, as its previous AI spot was reportedly produced for a tenth of the traditional price tag.
Coca-Cola is hedging its bets. The campaign also includes "A Holiday Memory," a traditional 30-second spot for select markets, suggesting that even the beverage giant knows its algorithms haven't quite captured the holiday spirit.
The push into AI advertising isn't unique to Coke, as Google has also rolled out its first fully AI-generated commercial. It's a risky move, as Coca-Cola itself demonstrated in a previous campaign that invented a fake book by author J.G. Ballard. For those curious about the alternative, Ad Age offers a closer look at the non-AI ad from this year's campaign.
