The AI Coca-Cola Ad Might have Done Photographers a Big Favour

The Holidays are coming! If Coca-Cola hadn’t declared that loudly to all of us in their annual festive advertisement, would we even realise? Christmas seems to encroach ever earlier each year, but the season of high-value festive ads is definitely a marker that indeed the holidays are coming. Usually, there’s an element of creativity, artistry, storytelling and magic involved. However, Coca-Cola has eschewed all of those things for the last couple of years by ‘going cheap’ and using generative AI. Why? Bottom line, and, because they can.

You might think this is the beginning of the end for photographers and a whole slew of creative jobs. However, don’t despair, all is not lost. This is actually a great thing for us, and the Coca-Cola ad has backfired in the best possible way. Could the AI bubble finally be stretching thin?

Scott from Tin House Studio certainly seems to think so. He provides an eviscerating account of the advert, from wobbly wheel axles to bizarre animals and pedestrians getting run over, and concludes that (right now) creatives have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Scott argues that using AI to create this sort of project is not easy, quick, or free. You might get one part correct, but then any subsequent changes result in other unwanted changes, in a sort of snowball effect. Then you’re left trying to fix the issues in After Effects and Photoshop. Apparently, there was a team of prompters working through the night to get the ad right. My heart bleeds for them.

Coca-Cola then went even further down the diabolical path and created a fake Behind The Scenes video with, wait for it, an AI-generated commentary. Really, you can’t make this up! The commentary sounds exactly like they fed it into Notebook LM and clicked the podcast option. General BS ensues with the fake AI people waffling on about how authentic the project is.

But here’s the thing. As Scott points out, nobody wants this. The likes-to-dislikes ratio is currently at 95% in favour of dislikes. And the comments, well, let’s just say they are worth a read. Coca-Cola may have just made the best Pepsi ad ever.

“AI Slop is coming, AI Slop is coming! 🎵🎶” says one commenter, another adds, “How many people have you laid off for this? Coca-Cola: Yes”. The comments are just brutal, and like Scott says, “Nothing says Christmas quite like dad got fired because AI replaced him”.

And so it almost feels as if we’ve entered a new level of dystopia, with brands now trying to justify their use of AI by creating BTS videos created with, yep, more AI. But there will be a backlash, sooner or later.

I agree with Scott and predict that 2026 will begin to mark a decidedly strong turn towards authenticity and real processes. Expect to see more traditional workflows and a move back towards artisanal techniques. What does this mean for us as photographers? Well, older processes and film will become more important, alongside more transparency of our workflow and processes.

Finally, we must offer more than just the final output of images and videos. Compare the Coca-Cola advertisement with this one made by a small French supermarket that uses more traditional techniques, such as oh, real people:

We need to remember that our value continues to lie in the fact that we are human, that we have a creative soul and a lived experience. And nothing can replace that.

Watch Scott’s opinion below:

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