Early November 2024, Coca-Cola released its annual Christmas advertisement with a recreation of its 1995 “Holidays Are Coming” ad. However, people noticed something wrong with the ad and Coca-Cola was later caught using artificial intelligence to make the entire ad. After the major backlash that Coca-Cola received, it raised attention to the issue and of AI for everything from ads to school essays.
The overuse of AI is currently one of the most pressing issues with few regulations. AI is being used everywhere from school essays, artwork, and advertisements, with students and companies taking advantage of this.
While Coca-Cola was not the first company that used AI in ads, this case brought more national attention to the issue as it is a major corporation.
“Three AI studios (Secret Level, Silverside AI and Wild Card) worked to create these ads, using the generative AI models Leonardo, Luma and Runway, with a new model, Kling, brought in near the end of production.” According to NBC News and Forbes.
When the advertisement was published, everything was fine until people started to dig deeper. There were many signs that AI was used in the ad. For starters, the measurement of the trucks compared to the people and houses were out of proportion with the people not being able to fit inside the truck doors. Additionally, the wheels were not moving across the icy road and instead gliding across the road. Minor details include the background lights and houses having irregular shapes not possible in real life. Coca-Cola tried to hide the fact that they used AI by cutting 10 times to different shots within the 15-second ad and by doing a general clean-up by adding the Coca-Cola logos, along with the audio and text in post-production.
Across the internet and online articles, Coca-Cola received major backlash for the AI ad along with the additional two other ads. The reason for the backlash was replacing real artists and human jobs with AI technology. Additionally AI was plagiarizing other’s art to create the ad. Alex Hirsch, creator of Gravity Falls, called out Coca-Cola over on Twitter (X). “FUN FACT: @CocaCola is ‘red’ because it’s made from the blood of out-of-work artists! #HolidayFactz.” Hirsch said.
The criticism of AI usage in Coca-Cola’s ads has brought national attention over the issue of AI in media and AI usage in schools. While the two other AI ads created also received backlash, the ad that generated images of humans was the main issue as it shows the limitations AI still has in creating artwork. Furthermore, this isn’t the first time Coca-Cola has used AI. In 2023 Coca-Cola and OpenAI created an AI made commercial called “Masterpiece” and this isn’t the only example of a company using AI.
Toys R Us created an AI ad in the summer of 2024, that also received major backlash and was less careful with its usage. The ad featured more complex designs and details which made it easier to spot for it being made with AI. Netflix used AI to edit a banner image for Arcane Season Two, which was later pulled after receiving backlash and people pointing it out. Rovio used AI for the image for Rovio’s newest mobile game “Angry Birds Block Quest” and put a statement out over on Reddit. Most recently, Meta decided to create AI accounts on Facebook and Instagram, receiving major backlash and later quickly reversing and deleting the accounts.
With more companies using AI, it harms artists as well as in the education sector, with students trying to turn in assignments that are made with the usage of AI. Teachers Fraser and Ellis had comments on the issue of AI in assignments and AI art usage.
“I think if a student’s using it, they’re cheating themselves,” Fraser said. “AI will make up quotes from a book, and I just feel like that’s so incredibly thoughtless to see an essay that has made up quotes.”
When AI art is considered it’s a middle ground and the issue of when companies use AI.
“”I think that it can be really inspirational for doing things like picturing readings or things that you don’t necessarily have access to,” Ellis said. “I wouldn’t consider it art in the way that most art is created, but I would say you can appreciate it based on what you see.” She said. “I think if it’s being used as a tool to adapt or change things, that’s great, but the original source should always come with something that people are making, not something that a computer is generating.
With AI becoming more mainstream, it brings the downsides of people negatively using AI and companies using them rather than hiring people making people out of a job yet there is much work to do to regulate AI.
