--- title: "Someone Made a Deranged Version of Coke’s AI Holiday Ad and It’s Way Better" description: "Coca-Cola drew plenty of criticism for rolling out an uninspired and lazily AI-generated holiday ad. Redditors made a much better version." date: "2024-11-20" modified: "2024-11-20" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/deranged-version-coke-ai-holiday-ad" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "advertisements" - "coca cola" - "generative ai" - "the digest" --- # Someone Made a Deranged Version of Coke’s AI Holiday Ad and It’s Way Better ![Coca-Cola drew plenty of criticism for rolling out an uninspired and lazily AI-generated holiday ad. Redditors made a much better version.]() *\Image: Reddit\* ## AI Gore Coca-Cola [drew criticism]() for rolling out an uninspired and lazily AI-generated holiday advertisement this year. The ad is pretty much exactly the kind of insipid corporate sludge you'd expect from AI: predictable, unimaginative and vaguely uncanny. Fortunately, Redditors took matters into their own hands, celebrating tooth-rotting soft drinks with a [far more "unhinged" take on Coke's concept](). The result harkens back to the glowy days of AI gore, when [Will Smith glitchily "eating" a bowl of spaghetti]() went mega-viral, with unsettling mishmashes of morphing body appendages and explosions. At one point, a polar bear even yeets its offspring into an icy lake for no discernible reason. "Brilliant," one Redditor [assessed](). "No notes." ## Out of Touch Coke [contracted three separate AI studios]() for its cheap-looking ad, and it didn't take long for netizens to call out the company for brazenly replacing human artists with bland AI. "FUN FACT: Coca-Cola is ‘red’ because it’s made from the blood of out-of-work artists!" Alex Hirsch, the creator of the Disney TV show "Gravity Falls," [tweeted]() in a tongue-in-cheek post. It's only the latest in a string of companies relying on cheap generative AI for its ads. Earlier this year, the corporate husk of [Toys "R" Us was flamed]() for a similar effort. Perhaps it would've served Coke better to lean into the limitations of the tech. During this year's Super Bowl half-time, after all, its sports drink brand Bodyarmor released a nausea-inducing generative AI ad in an attempt to make a point about offering its customers a "real" product. At least, the ad passed the low bar of being somewhat entertaining to watch, which can't be said of its latest cringe-inducing attempt. "They should've made it more self-aware and comical, it would've had a better reception IMO," one Redditor [argued](). "Tough for the marketing department to make a self-aware ad when they are all out of touch in the first place," another [replied](). **More on AI ads:** *[Coke's AI Commercial for the Holidays Has Us Wondering If We Live in a Fallen World]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()