Coca-Cola, the Atlanta-based beverage company, pulled an AI-generated holiday advertisement shortly after launch in 2025 following intense online criticism. The spot featured anthropomorphic animals, including polar bears, pandas, and sloths, admiring the brand's delivery trucks, and viewers labeled it AI slop and said it ruined the holiday spirit.
The 2025 ad marked the second straight year the company faced backlash over AI-generated holiday creative. Its 2024 reimagining of the long-running Holidays Are Coming campaign drew criticism for visuals that viewers described as soulless and creepy, with characters that appeared artificial and lacking genuine emotion. Rather than retreat, the company produced another AI-heavy spot the following year, which met a similar reaction.
The episode drew wide media coverage and became a reference point in a growing debate over AI in advertising. Reporting on the pullback noted that audiences had begun rejecting AI-generated brand content, with 2025 described as the year viewers stopped tolerating it in major campaigns.
Coca-Cola was not alone. McDonald's Netherlands removed an AI-generated holiday commercial within three days of its December 2025 launch after significant backlash, and brands including Vogue, Guess, and Valentino faced criticism over AI-generated models and campaign imagery that critics called cheap and tacky.
The reaction has prompted some brands to distance themselves from the technology in their messaging. For Coca-Cola, the repeated holiday controversies turned a flagship seasonal campaign into a case study in the limits of audience tolerance for AI-generated advertising.
Source: DesignRush - https://news.designrush.com/7-worst-ai-advertising-backfires-2025