daniel chigunwe
ATLANTA. – Coca-Cola’s annual holiday commercial has dropped, but many consumers and artists aren’t thrilled with its Artificial Intelligence production.
Coca-Cola launched its holiday commercial, ‘The Holiday Magic Us Coming,’ last week.
The 30-second video is a tribute to the company’s 1995 holiday commercial, ‘Holidays Are Coming.’
Both commercials feature Coca-Cola trucks, decked out in holiday lights, brightening up the world around them.
While human actors “light up” in excitement in the ‘95 commercial, AI-generated polar bears snuggle up in an igloo in the latest rendition.
The holiday commercial was created using Real Magic AI, Coca-Cola’s artificial intelligence platform powered by OpenAI.
The platform, which functions similarly to image generator DALLE-E, allows artists to access Coca-Cola archives for their projects.
Several artists have taken to social media to share their views on the advertisement.
Alex Hirsch, creator of Disney’s television series, “Gravity Falls,” commented on X:
“FUN FACT: (Coca-Cola) is ‘red’ because it’s made from the blood of out-of-work artists.”
Of its social media platforms, Coca-Cola only posted the advertisement on its YouTube channel.
The more than 1,300 comments on the video largely display aversion.
The top comments read, “Pepsi, now is your chance to make a live action ad bashing on Coke for using AI” and, “Nothing like celebrating the spirit of Christmas with the most soulless commercial possible.”
In response to the advertisement, Shelly Palmer, a professor of advanced media in residence at Syracuse University, wrote in a blog post that it “truly sucks.”
He compared the video to the 2004 film, “The Polar Express” on “bad acid.”
“In practice, Coke wasn’t breaking new creative ground; they were trying to use technology to reduce production costs and see if they could figure out how to save millions of dollars on what would otherwise be a multi-million-dollar animation project,” Palmer wrote.
“It turns out that in 2024 … you can’t. Maybe this will be possible in 2025 or 2026, but not today.”
In a statement, a Coca-Cola spokesperson said:
“The Coca-Cola Company has celebrated a long history of capturing the magic of the holidays in content, film, events and retail activations for decades around the globe.
“We are always exploring new ways to connect with fans and experiment with different approaches. This year, we crafted films through a collaboration of human storytellers and the power of generative AI.
“Coca-Cola will always remain dedicated to creating the highest level of work at the intersection of human creativity and technology.” – USA Today
Online Reporter