Coca-Cola's New Year commercial sparks massive backlash for AI content
Coca-Cola’s New Year ad disappoints viewers (screenshot: YouTube/@Coca-Cola)
Coca-Cola has once again used generative artificial intelligence to create its New Year's commercial. This time, it has sparked online backlash, The Verge reports.
Criticism of last year's AI-generated ads
The company had already faced criticism last year when it released three AI-created commercials. Viewers pointed out unrealistic faces and sliding wheels on the brand's signature holiday trucks.
Despite the backlash, the brand decided to continue its experiment, unveiling a new campaign that many commenters say looks even stranger.
Unnatural animation and "outdated" visual style
In the new ad, titled "The Holidays Are Coming," various animals, including polar bears, a panda, and a sloth, replace human characters. However, the visual style of the characters noticeably varies from scene to scene: in some, the creators aim for realism, while in others, the animals look cartoonish with exaggerated features.
The characters' movements also appear unnatural, as if flat images were simply being moved around the frame. Compared to modern AI systems like OpenAI's Sora 2 or Google's Veo 3, the ad looks distinctly outdated.
The only clear improvement from last year is that the iconic Coca-Cola trucks now actually have spinning wheels instead of sliding over the snow.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the campaign was produced by studios Silverside and Secret Level, the same ones that worked on last year's AI ads.
The company declined to disclose the cost of the new project but said that about 100 people worked on it, which is roughly the same number as during traditional shoots without AI. Among them were five generative model specialists who had to create and refine more than 70,000 AI clips.
Industry concerns
All this comes amid growing concern in the industry, as advertising and media companies increasingly replace creative teams with algorithms, raising questions about the future of human jobs.
This year, Google also released its first fully "AI-generated" commercial, claiming that viewers don't care how an ad is made.
However, Coca-Cola insists that the approach is justified. According to Chief Marketing Officer Manolo Arroyo, AI-assisted production is faster and cheaper:
"Before, when we were doing the shooting and all the standard processes for a project, we would start a year in advance. Now, you can get it done in around a month," he said.
Earlier, we reported that Coca-Cola plans to return to using cane sugar in its beverages.
