The Coca-Cola Company has debuted its new Christmas ad for 2025, made entirely with AI.
The new ad follows its first AI-generated festive commercial from last year, which was a recreation of its iconic 1995 ‘The Holidays Are Coming’ campaign, showing the Coca-Cola truck coming to wintery towns in the festive period.
The 2024 ad, created with the same production studios – Secret Level and Silverside AI – sparked backlash within the creative industries and online as audiences grappled with an entirely AI-generated ad.
Much of the criticism focused on the ‘uncanny’ feeling of the AI-generated visuals and the presence of AI humans instead of real people, which some claimed was void of ‘magic’.
In an interview with FutureWeek about last year’s ad, Rob Wrubel, co-founder of Silverside AI, commented on the ad’s backlash. He said: “We’ve seen this resistance throughout history. After Toy Story was made, everyone said traditional animation will never be replaced by computer graphics – and then within about three years, traditional animation had disappeared.
“We also used to say the web will never be a meaningful advertising inventory…and look where we are today. There is always a ‘wall of worry’ people climb over. It’s a resistance to new technology that people are intimidated by because there’s a lot of uncertainty around it.”
This year’s ad is another recreation of the iconic Holidays Are Coming commercial, this time only featuring animals, and with a look reflecting AI’s developments over the past year.
Doubling Down on the AI-Generated Festive Ad
Coca-Cola could have easily shied away from, or toned down, using AI in this year’s ad. Instead the brand doubled down on AI-use in its production, which shows sharper visuals and improved craftsmanship.
Ultimately, using AI to generate its Christmas ad once again signals a commitment from one of the biggest brands on the planet to the use of AI in ad production, despite criticism.
From a creative point of view, the commercials symbolise both what can be produced with AI right now visually, and also how far the technology has come in the space of a year.
“Leveraging advanced GenAI tools, we controlled every cinematic detail, from camera angles to physics-driven realism, with intuitive visual annotations mimicking a director’s workflow,” said Pratik Thakar, Global Vice President & Head of Generative AI. “This is more than filmmaking – it’s a transformational leap into the future of creativity and technology.”
