Coca-Cola Christmas Ads Arm Viewers About Modern Change For 2024

On By Littum

Supporters of Christmas adverts have been up in arms after learning that Coca-Cola’s festive 2024 commercial was created using artificial intelligence – and killed Santa in the process.

The 15-second recreation of its famous “Holidays are Coming” ad is the company’s first use of generative AI in a TV Christmas campaign.

As a result, it didn’t get a real person to play Santa Claus.

The ad first hit screens in 1995, when the iconic Coca-Cola truck drove through a winter landscape to the “Holidays Are Coming” soundtrack. For many, seeing the brand’s ad has become a symbol of the beginning of the festive season.

The original ad used three real 40-foot trucks weighing two tons each and covered with 30,000 bulbs, according to Coca-Cola.

This year’s ad sees a fleet of Coca-Cola trucks driving through a snow-covered village. The door of a truck opens and a man is handed a glass bottle of Coke Zero by an unseen figure, but that figure is presumed to be Santa Claus, as we get a fleeting glimpse of his white cuff and red sleeve. Smugglers in woolly hats line the streets, happily sipping Coke Zero as the “Holidays Are Coming” soundtrack plays. Otherwise, Santa does not appear.

Viewers online have shared their disapproval of the changes to this year’s ad, with one writing on X/Twitter: “Dear Coca-Cola, can you send the Santa Train ad to the UK as they seem to have eliminated Santa from the ads here! It’s not Christmas without the Coca-Cola train!!! Thank you!”

One person said the AI ​​element of the ad made them feel “sick”, while another added: “The world will end if the Coca-Cola Christmas ad is made with AI.”

A partygoer sipping Coke Zero in the 2024 ad

A partygoer sipping Coke Zero in the 2024 ad (Coca-Cola)

Others, who had yet to learn that the ad was made using generative AI, asked online: “Why does the Coca-Cola ad look like AI?”

“Sad to see this was made with AI generated program,” said another.

Javier Meza, EU Chief Marketing Officer at Coca-Cola, said the brand was adapting “to the times” by incorporating AI.

Santa's hand in the Coca-Cola 2024 ad

Santa’s hand in the Coca-Cola 2024 ad (Coca-Cola)

“We didn’t start out saying, ‘OK, we’ve got to do this with AI,'” he said Marketing weekadding: “The brief was that we want to bring Holidays Are Coming into the present, and so we explored AI as a solution to that.”

He added that artificial intelligence was an “efficient” way to create the ad while saving time and money.

A Coca-Cola spokesperson said: “Coca-Cola’s exciting venture into AI-generated storytelling demonstrates Coca-Cola’s commitment to embracing innovation, leveraging our collaborations with top creative and technology partners, while staying true to its core values: to spread happiness and create real magic!”