“Today” reported on the 19th that the year-end advertising series, which has been continuing for 29 years since 1995, has been criticized in the U.S., and is being criticized mainly on social media. Advertisements that are criticized on social media are advertisements produced with generative artificial intelligence (AI) for the first time this year. In one of the 30-second advertisements, digitally generated polar bears, deer, and other animals run through the snowfield. There is also a hot air balloon with AI-made trucks, pine trees, bridges, and Christmas lights. Young and old people in the advertisement are smiling brightly, but they are not real people.
Along with the advertisement, Coca-Cola opened a website titled “CreateRealMagic.com ” so that consumers can reinterpret Coca-Cola’s iconic year-end image with AI. The website was first created in March this year and allows users to create and download digital holiday cards or share them on social media. Attempts to convey the year-end atmosphere with AI-centered content have been highly criticized by Coca-Cola. X wrote, “The art of Coca-Cola using AI in its advertisements is dying. Actors, photographers, drivers, designers have all been replaced. Soulless work.” Another user commented, “We are living in the worst of times.” One TikTok user said, “This Christmas commercial has no idea what Christmas feels like. We also don’t know how to recreate the joy we have in December.”
In response, a Coca-Cola spokesperson said, “This year-end commercial was produced in collaboration with a human storyteller and a Generative AI.” The spokesperson said, “Coca-Cola has long been at the forefront of advertising, marketing, and innovation, and is committed to creating the best work at the point where human creativity and technological advancement meet.” “AI advertising is just one of several advertisements to be introduced this season,” he said, adding, “A more traditional advertisement ‘Holiday Road’ using real actors and filming locations is also ready.”
This is not the first time Coca-Cola has used Generative AI in its advertisement. In 2023, a two-minute advertisement called Masterpiece showed paintings in museums throwing Coca-Cola bottles at each other.
SALLY LEE
US ASIA JOURNAL
