Coca-Cola has announced a new Christmas campaign, “The Holidays Are Coming,” created with the help of generative artificial intelligence. This is a continuation of last year’s experiment, where the animation was criticized for being unnatural. The video was published on the company’s YouTube channel.
In the new version, humans are replaced by animated animals such as a polar bear, panda, seal, and sloth, all watching a red Coca-Cola truck roam through a snowy landscape. Despite efforts to improve quality, social networks have noted unnatural character movements and varying styles from scene to scene, ranging from realistic to cartoonish.
Christmas campaign featuring artificial intelligence
“Coca-Cola doesn’t seem to have learned the lessons of last AI.”
Users also note that the animation remains incomplete despite a year of AI development.
“Despite a year of AI development, this still looks terrible.”
Industry sources say the same studios from last year, Silverside and Secret Level, produced the clip. The project involved around 100 people, including five artificial intelligence experts who created and selected more than 70,000 video fragments generated by neural networks. Production was faster and cheaper, although the budget was not disclosed.
“We used to start making Christmas videos a year in advance, but now we can complete them in about a month.”
Coca-Cola’s position is that AI technology shortens production cycles without reducing audience engagement. Representatives also stress that AI will not replace creative teams, but only enhance their productivity. This view was expressed by Pratik Thakkar in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:
“Last year, people criticized the craftsmanship. But this year it’s 10 times better.”
The industry continues to debate the impact of artificial intelligence, with some experts believing synthetic content could change the market and threaten artists’ professions, while others see AI as a tool for faster creation. Coca-Cola has confirmed its intention to continue exploring the possibilities of using AI in this area and in various projects over the coming year.
“We used to have at least 50 people participating in similar videos, but now we have about 20. But this means we can create 10 times more content for the same budget.”
Experts say generative AI can reduce costs and speed up production time, but it also raises debates about the future of creative professions. Coca-Cola has indicated its intention to continue experimenting and exploring the use of artificial intelligence in various projects throughout the year.
In the context of rapid technological developments, the debate over the role of AI in holiday advertising continues, and we can expect the future of such collaborations between brands and artificial intelligence to be the subject of heated debate, seeking a balance between efficiency and artistic value.
