Coca-Cola has come under fire for “losing the essence of Christmas” to the technological advancement of AI, after it was revealed that their latest ad is the drinks giant’s first fully AI-created advertisement. Described as a reinterpretation of the brand’s iconic “Holidays Are Coming” campaign, which has been used by the company since 1995, the purpose of the ad is to both tap into a nostalgic vein, while pushing forward with the innovative technology that is now available. However, whatever reaction it was meant to achieve, it wasn’t the unanimous wave of criticism that the company is now being subjected to across social media.
The AI-driven ad features many iconic images from the company’s regular holiday offerings, including the world-famous red trucks, polar bears, happy faces, and snow-laden streets, as well as the instantly recognizable “Holidays Are Coming” jingle – an earworm as synonymous with the season as Mariah Carey. However, for anyone who has watched any AI-generated fake movie trailers on YouTube – you know the ones that put famous faces in roles they never have or will play – there is something very stilted and fake about the whole thing.
The company’s European CMO, Javier Meza, told Marketing Week that the reason the company has taken the extraordinary steps of tapping into the world of AI this year is in order to bring the brand into “today’s times.” He said:
“We didn’t start by saying: ‘OK, we need to do this with AI. The brief was, we want to bring Holidays Are Coming into the present and then we explored AI as a solution to that.”
Whatever the reasons for the company taking this route, rather than going down the revolutionary road of actually hiring real people to design and film a brand-new commercial, it seems that none of it is washing with those who have bombarded Coca-Cola’s X/Twitter account with their complaints.
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Social media is a great place for sharing, but it also leaves companies open to the all-out wrath of the disgruntled public when they do something that touches a nerve. It is clear from the thousands of comments, that his is one of those times.
On X/Twitter, those who have not yet abandoned the social media site shared their grievences about the commercial, @hzjoe03“Crazy that this is the company that literally made Santa red because of how iconic their adverts were, now they’re just making slop.” Another user, @synthpotato, noted the irony in the ad’s slogan, “Ending with the slogan “Real Magic” right after showing the fakest crap is wild.” Naturally, there are some who have defended the ad, or at least pointed out a sad fact about the inevitable problem that AI has brought to industries that are always looking to cut costs. @xprunie said:
“A lot of ppl will be mad about this but the sad truth is this is where creative marketing will go. If I can replicate 70% of a marketing campaign with 5% of its cost, then I’ll do it.”
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Of course, there is one huge thing that differentiates one from the other – the people who are employed to create them. Coming hot on the heels of last year’s Hollywood strikes, and at a time when many people are looking for reassurances that they are not about to be replaced by the real world’s version of Skynet, perhaps resorting to AI generation this year of all years was perhaps a tone-deaf move by one of the companies who defined so much of the imagery of the festive holidays.
The Coca-Cola Company has yet to respond to the discourse, but do not fear, ChatGPT is currently generating an adequate statement as we speak.