Coca-Cola Debuts New AI-Generated Holiday Ad, Aiming for a Hit After Last Year’s Backlash
Following a wave of criticism in 2024, Coca-Cola is returning with an updated holiday commercial created using artificial intelligence. The company and its partners are confident that this time they have created something completely different—and significantly higher quality.
Learning from the Past
The first AI-generated spot, “The Holidays Are Coming,” inspired by the classic 1995 ad, sparked a firestorm of negativity. Viewers and industry professionals were critical of both the uncanny aesthetics of the AI-generated people and animals and the ethical implications. Despite billions of views, the company took the feedback to heart.
A New Strategy: Animals Instead of People
For the 2025 campaign, Coca-Cola once again partnered with the studio Secret Level but took a radically different approach. The new spot focuses almost entirely on animals—from seals to pandas—accompanying the company’s famous trucks on a global journey. The only human in the frame is Santa Claus, recreated based on the original drawings by artist Haddon Sundblom, who established the modern image of Santa for Coca-Cola in the 1930s.
“The Craft is Ten Times Better”
According to Pratik Tacker, Coca-Cola’s Vice President of Global Development, the key improvement lies in the technical execution.
“Last year, people criticized the craft. But this year, it’s ten times better,” he stated.
Secret Level founder and chief creative officer Jason Zada added that the technology now allows for realistic rendering of animal expressions, which wasn’t possible before. The studio’s goal is for viewers to be unable to distinguish the spot from a high-budget Hollywood animated film.
The Debate Continues
Despite the technical progress, ethical debates about AI in creativity persist. Zada acknowledges that the loudest critics last year were industry professionals fearful for their jobs. However, he sees AI as a tool for enhancing efficiency, not replacing people: he estimates the new ad required about 20 people instead of the usual 50, allowing for “ten times more” content to be created within the same budgets.
A Look to the Future
Coca-Cola views AI as part of the company’s “major marketing transformation.” Tacker is confident that, despite the controversy, the company will continue to push boundaries by using this technology for other major events, such as the “March Madness” basketball tournament.
“The genie is out of the bottle, and it’s not going back in,” he concluded.
Thus, the new Coca-Cola ad will serve not only as holiday entertainment but also as a crucial test for the entire industry: are consumers ready to accept AI-generated video if it is technically flawless?