- Coca-Cola's AI campaign has faced backlash similar to last year's ads, criticised as cheap and unappealing
- Pratik Thakar, Coca-Cola's AI head, defended AI use, saying innovation must keep moving forward
- Calls for boycotts appeared, with fans mourning the loss of Coca-Cola's classic nostalgic ads
Coca-Cola's latest Christmas campaign has sparked backlash on social media after the company once again opted for artificial intelligence to design its festive commercial.
The 'Holidays Are Coming' ad campaign, released on Nov. 3, features a 60-second film showing Santa opening a bottle of Coca-Cola before a fleet of the brand's iconic red trucks travels through a snowy landscape. Along the route, animated animals, including polar bears, penguins, puppies and rabbits, pause to watch them pass.
The beverages giant continued its AI push despite widespread criticism last year, when its AI-created Christmas commercials were mocked by creative professionals and viewers. According to Forbes, those advertisements were described as “uncanny eyesores” and perceived as cheap reproductions of Coca-Cola's historically warm and nostalgic festive storytelling.
This year's release appears to have triggered the same reaction. A recent comment by Pratik Thakar, head of generative AI at Coca-Cola, also added fuel to the ongoing backlash on social media platforms.
Defending the brand's approach, Thakar told The Hollywood Reporter, “We need to keep moving forward and pushing the envelope,” and added, “The genie is out of the bottle, and you're not going to put it back in.”
Coca-Cola's annual Christmas advert is AI-generated again this year.
November 3, 2025
The company says they used even fewer people to make it — “We need to keep moving forward and pushing the envelope… The genie is out of the bottle, and you're not going to put it back in” pic.twitter.com/g1dogxS8TqUsers on X (formerly Twitter) seized on the statement, interpreting it as proof that Coca-Cola intends to continue investing in AI at the expense of traditional creative work.
One user said, “The quote is easily the worst part. Biggest company in the world proudly admitting to accelerating the apocalypse and asking, ‘what are you going to do about it?'”
The quote is easily the worst part. Biggest company in the world proudly admitting to accelerating the apocalypse and asking “what are you going to do about it?” https://t.co/lBQWfqWl6w
November 3, 2025Another post referenced Thakar's words and joked, “‘The genie is out of the bottle, and you're not going to put it back in' - your boss firing you on Christmas.”
“The genie is out of the bottle, and you're not going to put it back in” - your boss firing you on Christmas
November 3, 2025Many users criticised the decision to use AI for a festive campaign built around themes of generosity and connection.
One comment read, “The spirit of Christmas is giving & gathering and you're bragging about how many people you didn't gather & give to.”
The spirit of Christmas is giving & gathering and you're bragging about how many people you didn't gather & give to. https://t.co/L0zG7e7BfJ
November 3, 2025Another angry user said Coca-Cola, “A brand that regularly shovels concepts of family, community, kindness and togetherness down our throats,” was now bragging “about their hypocrisy with such brazen abandon.”
Even if you look beyond everything wrong with generative AI (like, y'know, “theft”) the fact that @CocaCola - a brand that regularly shovels concepts of family, community, kindness and togetherness down our throats with all the subtlety of a fart at a funeral - would actually… https://t.co/nI3zDCL0e2
November 4, 2025Calls for boycotts also surfaced, with one urging people to “avoid all Coca-Cola products” and adding there was “no need to reward a company that wilfully and proudly exploits and displaces workers.”
IMO folks might want to avoid all Coca-Cola products whenever possible. No need to reward a company that willfully and proudly exploits and displaces workers with their gross use of GenAi 🤷🏻♀️#PutTheGenieBack #BoycottCoke #SayNoToSlop https://t.co/fRXw2ZAfC3 pic.twitter.com/2FJQSD0QR7
November 4, 2025Others lamented the loss of Coca-Cola's classic festive storytelling, sharing emotional comparisons with adverts from past decades. One user wrote, “I cry and weep for the '90s Coca-Cola Christmas adverts.”
I cry and weep for the '90s Coca-Cola Christmas adverts pic.twitter.com/bBk8UPmtQh
November 3, 2025The reactions show that many people still prefer Coca-Cola's traditional and nostalgic Christmas ads over AI versions.
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