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Coca-Cola repeats move that caused backlash last Christmas

November 4, 2025 | | Print Article

Coca-Cola has, for the second time in a row, once again used artificial intelligence (AI) technology to produce a Christmas ad.

Coca-Cola first used AI to create a Christmas ad in 2024, but that endeavor fell by the wayside thanks to major backlash from the public.

“Coca-Cola is red because it’s made from the blood of out-of-work artists,” Hollywood writer Alex Hirsch scathingly tweeted at the time.

Megan Cruz, host of “The Broad Perspective” podcast, also slammed the ad, tweeting that it was letting Coca-Cola profit while hurting artists:

“This is always what [AI] was going to be used for, btw,” she wrote. “It’s not some great equalizer. It’s a way for already massively wealthy execs to add a few more mil to their annual bonuses by cutting creative teams entirely & having a machine vomit up the most boring slop imaginable instead.”

Watch last year’s ad below:

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Despite this intense backlash, Coca-Cola has chosen to double down this year with a purportedly slightly enhanced strategy.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Coca-Cola AI official Pratik Thakar claimed this year’s ad is “ten times better,” quality-wise.

“Last year, people criticized the craftsmanship, but this year the craftsmanship is ten times better,” he said. “There will be people who criticize — we cannot keep everyone 100 percent happy — but if the majority of consumers see it in a positive way, it’s worth going forward.”

Last year, Coca-Cola hired the AI studio Secret Level to produce its ad. This year, it hired the same company. Secret Level’s founder, Jason Zada, wasn’t impressed by the criticism he saw and heard last year.

“The haters on the Internet are the loudest,” he said. “A lot of the people complaining last year were from the creative industry who were just afraid — afraid for their jobs, afraid for what it did. But I think the spot tested really well and average people really enjoyed it.”

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Watch this year’s ad below:

Unfortunately for Zada, the public doesn’t appear to be feeling this year’s Christmas any better than they felt last year’s ad.

Over on the ad’s official YouTube page, the comments have been devastating:

  • “A year of AI development later, and it still looks terrible.”
  • “Remember when they paid real animators to make commercials with heart. Now it’s soulless AI.”
  • “Bravo to Coca Cola for being hellbent on proving why this shit will never ever have value ever.”
  • “Nothing says ‘holiday spirit’ like laying off your whole graphic arts department in the name of ‘moving forward and pushing the envelope’!”
  • “The best ad I’ve ever seen for Pepsi.”

The comments on X have been just as blistering.

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Look:

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Zada, for his part, defended Coca-Cola’s decision not to hire traditional artists for their holiday ads.

“You could do 10 times as much at scale,” he said, explaining that it requires far fewer people to produce an AI ad versus a real one, meaning more efficiency.

Coca-Cola’s chief marketing officer, Manolo Arroyo, doubled down on this sentiment while speaking with the Wall Street Journal.

“Before, when we were doing the shooting and all the standard processes for a project, we would start a year in advance,” he said. “Now, you can get it done in around a month.”

Congratulations, I guess …

Vivek Saxena
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