Coca-Cola is once again turning to artificial intelligence for its festive marketing — but this year’s Coca-Cola AI holiday ad has fans feeling more uneasy than inspired.

The beverage giant’s latest “Holidays Are Coming” campaign uses generative AI to reimagine its iconic Coke caravan commercials. However, rather than evoking holiday nostalgia, the new ad is being widely criticized as an “AI eyesore” for its inconsistent visuals and robotic animation.

From Nostalgia to the Uncanny Valley

After last year’s backlash over AI-generated Coke commercials featuring awkwardly gliding trucks and unnatural human faces, many expected Coca-Cola to rethink its approach. Instead, the company doubled down with another round of Coca-Cola AI holiday ads — and the result is even more jarring.

This time, the ad features a collection of digitally created critters, from polar bears to pandas and sloths. But instead of a consistent animation style, viewers get a mishmash of realism and cartoonish exaggeration. Critics say the movement of these characters looks “flat” and “mechanically stitched together,” lacking the warmth of traditional animation.

Compared to the lifelike video outputs from AI tools like OpenAI’s Sora 2 or Google’s Veo 3, Coca-Cola’s latest attempt feels oddly dated — a mismatch of static images and motion blur rather than polished CGI.

The Production Team and AI Workflow

According to The Wall Street Journal, Coca-Cola collaborated with AI studios Silverside and Secret Level, both of which helped produce last year’s campaign. Around 100 people were involved this time, including five “AI specialists” who generated and refined more than 70,000 AI video clips for the project.

While the Coca-Cola AI holiday ad was faster and cheaper to produce than traditional shoots, it also reignited debates about the future of creative work.

Faster, Cheaper, But at What Cost?

Manolo Arroyo, Coca-Cola’s Chief Marketing Officer, admitted that AI has made the process much more efficient. “Before, when we were doing the shooting and all the standard processes for a project, we would start a year in advance,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “Now, you can get it done in around a month.”

Yet, critics argue that the cost of speed may be artistic authenticity. Many viewers feel that Coca-Cola’s festive charm has been lost to an algorithmic approach that prioritizes efficiency over emotion.

AI in Advertising: A Growing Trend

Coca-Cola isn’t alone in embracing AI for marketing. Google recently unveiled its first fully AI-generated commercial, stating that consumers “don’t really care” if ads are AI-made. However, Coca-Cola’s repeated missteps — including an earlier campaign that featured a fake book by author J.G. Ballard — suggest that audience tolerance for AI misfires may have limits.

As AI tools continue to evolve, the debate around authenticity, creativity, and automation in advertising is heating up — and Coca-Cola’s latest AI holiday ad has just poured more fuel on the fire.