The slogan “Getting closer to Christmas” has been accompanying us during the upcoming Christmas holidays for almost three decades. Coca-Cola, the undisputed giant and the world’s largest brand responsible for providing flavored carbonated drinks, is of course responsible for the slogan and the entire surroundings.
Of course, apart from the slogan itself, the famous red truck and the Christmas motif are also iconic, which basically shaped the image of the holidays for entire generations. Without a doubt, we are talking about something timeless that has become embedded not only in pop culture, but also in the collective consciousness of millions of people around the world.
This is, of course, thanks to the people and entire teams responsible for marketing who have developed and improved this scheme over the years. It turns out, however, that in 2024 the company decided to expose everyone to a lot of trouble and at the same time disgust everyone with the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence…
Coca-Cola and an AI-generated Christmas ad
Probably as part of preparations for a large-scale marketing campaign, Coca-Cola prepared several types of Christmas advertisements for its drink. This wouldn’t be a news topic (especially here), if it weren’t for the fact that we’re talking about video materials generated entirely by artificial intelligence. So we could say that there has been a breakthrough and the latest technologies are reaching even such cult and popular creators as the advertisements of the giant responsible for the world’s most popular drink.
The problem, however, is that all three spots, especially the one above, show how limited generative AI currently is. The 10-second material (not counting the 5-second presentation of the logo at the end) contains 15 scenes that are very, very loosely connected. All this is probably due to the excessive burden that would be created if the frames were even a little longer.
On top of everything, there are specific problems of generative artificial intelligence related to generating movement or facial expressions of people and the general movement of objects. Particular attention can be paid to the wheels of the legendary truck, which seem to move, but not as they actually do.
It is also worth noting that the iconic character of Santa Claus, whose image was popularized by Coca-Cola, does not appear anywhere in the material. The only thing we can count on is a shot of this character’s slightly plastic hand, which is also not the best advertisement for either the product or the AI.
Artificial intelligence is killing the magic of Christmas?
What do people say about all this? It was rather difficult to expect that suddenly everyone would be very enthusiastic about the iconic advertisement that was “tainted” by AI. Fortunately or unfortunately, the general reception of the spots prepared by Coca-Cola is completely negative and it is rather difficult to find any words of appreciation.
On the one hand, people are very, very critical of the workmanship itself, which is actually very questionable. On the other hand, many voices are also critical of the issue of employees whose future in the company is simply uncertain. After all, the large-scale use of artificial intelligence must have a negative impact on the employment structure.
For this reason, many comments directly accuse Coca-Cola of great greed and the desire to do things “at cost”. All this is ultimately meant to contradict the “magic of the holidays” of which the corporation is supposed to be a great advocate. As you can see, not really, especially when it comes to money and potential profits.
As you can see, you need to be able to use AI, and not only in the context of the technical and visual layer. Even if Coca-Cola now tries to withdraw its ideas, the bad taste will remain for a long time.
However, the question remains whether the example of the American giant will prevent other companies from conducting similar experiments? Absolutely not. More and more such ideas will appear and it is only a matter of time before we are flooded with this type of content. If only they were better prepared.
