Have you heard about the tech giant plunged into crisis media management mode by its PR boss?
It’s still too early really.
But everyone seems to be talking about Christmas adverts.
And we thought that we can’t leave it any longer because one has triggered a significant backlash.
While the John Lewis nostalgia-fuelled advert has won plenty of praise, Coca-Cola has gone with an AI-driven one for the second successive year, and people are not happy.
It’s been described as ‘AI slop’, a ‘sloppy eyesore’, ‘soulless AI’, ‘creative bankruptcy’, and ‘the most profitable commercial in Pepsi’s history’ - none of which feels particularly Christmasy.
Here are a few headlines it has created:
And of course, there have been the seemingly obligatory calls for a boycott among angry social media posts – something we’ve highlighted before in our crisis communication training blogs.
The criticism is partly about the quality of the advert, a remake of the 1995 one titled Holidays are Coming that features the Coca-Cola trucks coming heading into town. It is obviously AI-generated rather than ‘the real thing’, with several animation inconsistencies, including some trucks having an extra row of wheels in part of the footage.
But it is also about ethics – a giant company choosing not to use human creators at a time when many are fearful about the impact of AI on jobs.
From a PR and crisis communication perspective, the question is whether the soft-drink giant will care about the backlash.
Many brands would consider the headlines we’ve highlighted as a crisis.
But, equally, the advert has got people talking.
It has created headlines.
It has, as Decision Marketing reports, triggered ‘mass debate’ – words I would avoid putting together in a headline at all costs, but we’ll leave that for another day.
Making adverts just with AI, even if it is for a second successive year, still feels controversial. There’s an argument that doubling down on using AI after last year’s reaction adds to the controversy.
And we would say during our media training courses, it ticks the ‘unusual’ and ‘trouble’ boxes of the TRUTH (Topical, Relevant, Unusual, Trouble, Human) methodology we use to show what makes something newsworthy.
The result? Endless headlines and media coverage about its advert that would not have been replicated if it had opted to play it safe.
That’s not bad for what it effectively the second running of the same story.
And Coca-Cola seems happy to embrace the controversy.
Pratik Thakar, global VP and head of generative AI at Coca-Cola, told the Hollywood Reporter: “There will be people who criticise – we cannot keep everyone 100 percent happy. But if the majority of consumers see it in a positive way, it’s worth going forward.”
And beyond the angry headlines and social media posts, there are metrics that suggest the advert has landed well. System1 research shows consumers rated the advert highly for its effectiveness, branding, and emotional response.
According to Decision Marketing, Sprout Social figures show Coca-Cola’s advert is the most talked about Christmas advert on social media.
Controversy can create a buzz and send algorithms into overdrive.
But there also seems to be a sense here that Coca-Cola is trying to go further and is looking to build a reputation for being innovative, leading change, and looking to evolve. It wants to be viewed as a pioneer.
Look at some of the quotes from its bosses and the message it is trying to get across.
Mr Thakar has called AI a “superpower’.
He said: “This year’s campaign is another proof point in our journey of emerging technology to rethink how we create and scale content.”
He also said: “We need to keep moving forward and pushing the envelope. The genie is out of the bottle, and you’re not going to put it back in.”
Like it or loathe it – it seems unlikely this will be the last time AI-generated trucks make their way into town for the holidays.
Media First are media and communications training specialists with nearly 40 years of experience.
We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers.
Click here to find out more about our crisis communication training courses and media training courses.
