Coca-Cola’s AI-Generated Holiday Campaign and the Backlash That Went Viral

What’s Different: AI-Generated Storytelling Takes Center Stage Rather than featuring actors, classic Santa images, or the famed Coca-Cola caravan, the 2025 holiday spot relied exclusively on generative AI, resulting in a sloppily animated, deeply unnatural cast of anthropomorphic animals gathering around a truck driven by a partially obscured Santa, who seems to have gotten lost in the uncanny valley.

AI was used to generate over 70,000 video clips in just 30 days, shrinking traditional production timelines and budgets. Coca-Cola’s global CMO, Manolo Arroyo, confirmed the tech-led strategy: AI production was faster and cheaper, reducing the timeline from a year to just a month.

But the creative shortcut came at a reputational cost. Holiday ads aren’t just about visuals. They carry emotional weight and cultural memory.

Critique from Creatives and Labor Advocates Artists, animators, and industry insiders united in their concern, arguing that AI-driven campaigns devalue both creative labor and the tradition of holiday storytelling…