What the Coca-Cola AI commercial looked like
The red trucks again. Snowy streets, people in scarves and knitted hats holding bottles, a tribute to the 1995 Holidays Are Coming spot. The 2025 version leaned on animals instead of people: polar bears, sloths, a single close-up Santa.
NBC News described the 2024 ad as red Coca-Cola trucks driving through snowy streets past people holding bottles. Futurism described the 2025 one as landscapes with a painterly filter and a cast of animals, with almost no human faces. That is a choice. Faces are where AI footage breaks first.
Who made it, and how
Three AI studios (Secret Level, Silverside AI and Wild Card) made the 2024 ad with four generative models. Silverside AI made the 2025 ad. The Wall Street Journal reported about 100 people worked on it and more than 70,000 clips were generated.
- AI studios on the 2024 remake
- 3
- NBC News
- Generative AI models used in 2024
- 4
- NBC News
- Clips generated for the 2025 ad
- 70,000+
- The Wall Street Journal
- People on the 2025 ad
- ~100
- The Wall Street Journal
Seventy thousand clips for one minute of film is the real story. The tools are cheap per clip. Finding the four seconds that hold together is not. Coca-Cola called it "a collaboration of human storytellers and the power of generative AI" (NBC News).
Why people hated it
It remade a beloved ad, so every viewer had the original to compare it to. Critics called the 2024 version "soulless" and "devoid of any actual creativity" (NBC News). Futurism said the 2025 ad looked just as bad as the last one.
The loudest line came from Alex Hirsch, creator of Gravity Falls, who joked that Coca-Cola is red because it is made from the blood of out-of-work artists (NBC News). The argument was about jobs as much as pixels. And still: 56 million views.
What Coca-Cola runs on Meta now
Coca-Cola’s current paid social is filmed: Coke Zero spots, "a Coke for everyone", Spanish-language Sin Azucar. These are their live Meta ads, not the AI commercials.
What Coca-Cola’s AI ad teaches advertisers
Never remake the thing people love with a tool they distrust. Use AI where there is no original to lose to.
- A remake is a side-by-side. AI loses side-by-sides.
- Seventy thousand clips is a selection problem, not a generation problem. Budget for the person who says no.
- Hate still reaches people. If you go weird, go weird on purpose: the weird AI characters show how.
Director by Sprites is a full creative team for your startup. Every Monday you get finished, on-brand video ads, reviewed by a human. You never write a prompt.
More AI commercials
Every brand that has run an AI-made commercial, with how each one landed, is on the AI commercials hub.
See every AI commercial so far, what the generators cost per ad in video ad pricing, and the models behind them in AI video tools.
Frequently asked questions
Was the Coca-Cola Christmas ad made with AI?
Yes. The 2024 Holidays Are Coming remake was made by Secret Level, Silverside AI and Wild Card with four generative AI models (NBC News). The 2025 holiday ad was made by Silverside AI.
Who made the Coca-Cola AI commercial?
In 2024, three AI studios: Secret Level, Silverside AI and Wild Card. In 2025, Silverside AI, with about 100 people involved according to The Wall Street Journal.
How many clips did the 2025 Coca-Cola AI ad take?
More than 70,000 generated video clips, according to The Wall Street Journal as reported by Futurism.
Why was the Coca-Cola AI ad criticised?
It remade the beloved 1995 Holidays Are Coming spot, the motion looked uncanny, and artists saw it as replacing them. Critics called it soulless.
Want holiday ads people do not compare to 1995?
New ideas beat remakes. Director writes them for you. Director by Sprites is a full creative team for your startup, in private beta. Every Monday you get finished, on-brand video ads, reviewed by a human. You pick the winners. Sprites ships the campaigns.