Two years running, the AI Christmas ad became the story instead of Christmas
Coca-Cola · 2024–2025
What they did
Coca-Cola replaced its famously nostalgic "Holidays Are Coming" trucks campaign with a generative-AI-produced version — AI-rendered trucks, snow, and crowds — in both the 2024 and 2025 holiday seasons, aiming for the same emotional beats at presumably lower production cost and faster turnaround.
What happened
Both versions were widely mocked online as "soulless," "uncanny," and "AI slop," with the backlash itself becoming bigger news coverage than the ad. Coca-Cola released the second AI ad in 2025 anyway, with executives saying the approach had improved — drawing a second round of the same criticism rather than resolution.
The so-what
For a brand whose entire equity is nostalgia and craft (Coca-Cola effectively invented the modern visual Santa Claus), the uncanny-valley signal that says "machine-made" is a direct hit to the product being sold, regardless of any production-cost savings on the other side of the ledger.