The term "culture war" has become so broad that it sometimes feels oversimplified. It covers everything from coffee chains to cookie commercials, with opinions often falling along familiar partisan lines. However, a new type of culture war is emerging within the creative community, one that delves deeper into professional and personal identities.
At the heart of this debate is the use of generative artificial intelligence, the technology behind tools like ChatGPT, DALL-E, and MidJourney. While some celebrate AI as a revolutionary tool that enables rapid innovation across various industries, others view it as a significant threat to creative professions.
This debate has surfaced in unexpected ways over the past year and reached a peak in recent months. Last fall, Zelda Williams criticized AI recreations of her late father Robin Williams' voice, calling them exploitative. Over the summer, the Grammy-winning Tedeschi Trucks Band apologized after discovering that one of their tour posters was AI-generated. In October, CNN reported on AI-powered virtual K-pop bands in South Korea, while some U.S. crowdfunding platforms banned campaigns relying solely on AI-generated content.
Amid this growing divide, Coca-Cola stepped into the spotlight with a bold move: releasing a new Christmas commercial created using generative AI, thrusting the global brand into the center of this contentious debate.
**Festive Flashpoint**
Coca-Cola's recent Christmas commercial features classic holiday imagery: families exchanging smiles, people in cozy knitwear holding iconic glass bottles, and big red trucks driving through snowy streets. The ad is a clear nod to the company’s beloved 1995 “Holidays Are Coming” advertisement, which was made with human actors and real trucks.
However, this new commercial, promising "real magic," wasn't filmed on a set or soundstage. Instead, it was created entirely by artificial intelligence, with surreal touches like a snowy village morphing into a Coke bottle and a gingerbread house coming to life.
According to Forbes, the video was a collaborative effort by three AI studios—Secret Level, Silverside AI, and Wild Car—using four different generative AI models. Each studio created its own version of the ad, though Silverside’s AI developer, Chris Barber, later clarified on X (formerly Twitter) that the now-viral version wasn’t their studio’s contribution.
Many creators and customers quickly criticized the campaign, seeing it as a worrying trend of replacing human artistry with machine-generated content. Alex Hirsch, creator of the Disney series “Gravity Falls,” jokingly remarked that Coca-Cola’s signature red was now “made from the blood of out-of-work artists.” Others described the advertisement as “disastrous” and “dystopian.”
“Coca-Cola just put out an ad and ruined Christmas,” said Dylan Pearce, a TikTok user. “To put out slop like this just ruins the Christmas spirit.”
**A Broader Battle**
The debate over Coca-Cola’s commercial is just the latest flashpoint in a growing culture war among creatives. Earlier this year, Apple faced backlash for an iPad Pro ad that showed art supplies being destroyed by a hydraulic press, a message many saw as dismissing traditional methods in favor of digital tools.
Supporters of generative AI often compare this moment to past technological shifts, like the invention of photography or digital publishing. They argue that each disruption faced initial skepticism before becoming a standard tool. However, critics say this comparison misses the point. Generative AI doesn’t just enhance creativity; it fundamentally alters the economics of creative work.
While a traditional ad campaign might take weeks of brainstorming, focus groups, and meticulous production, AI can generate a ready-made storyboard in minutes. Coca-Cola’s ad embodies these fears, even though, as Shelly Palmer, a professor of advanced media at Syracuse University, noted, it “truly sucks.”
In an industry where holiday campaigns are major cultural touchpoints—think of the iconic Coca-Cola polar bears or the "Holidays Are Coming" truck—replacing traditional methods with AI feels like a betrayal to some. This sentiment was amplified when Pratik Thakar, a vice president of Coca-Cola and the company’s global head of generative AI, highlighted the project's budgetary and speed advantages in a conversation with Ad Age.
For every artist who sees AI as a tool to expand their imagination, another views it as a threat to their livelihood. Coca-Cola’s Christmas ad, with its shimmering visuals, is more than just a marketing campaign. It’s a litmus test for the future of creativity in an increasingly automated world. For the brand, this move was a calculated risk—one they aren’t backing away from despite the mixed reactions.
“The Coca-Cola Company has celebrated a long history of capturing the magic of the holidays in content, film, events, and retail activations for decades around the globe,” a company spokesman told The New York Times. “This year, we crafted films through a collaboration of human storytellers and the power of generative AI.”
As the holidays—and the culture wars—continue the debate over AI’s role in creativity remains a hot topic.