Many fears about artificial intelligence have at least some validity. I do worry how it exacerbates geopolitical tensions. I worry it may quietly weave existing biases and prejudices into different parts of life. I worry ChatGPT, an inveterate fibber, may have a better handle on the concepts of honesty and straightforward communication than many OpenAI executives.
But another AI concern keeps resurfacing, and it’s driving me nuts, and I wish people would let it go: that AI will ruin the art form of advertising.
Take the brouhaha over Coke’s latest AI Christmas ads. Hating on Coca-Cola is turning into a veritable holiday tradition, quite like eggnog and frantic travel. Recall that a similar uproar arose when the company did the same thing a year ago.
Look, they’re ads. By their basic nature, they exist as one of the most naked forms of capitalism: They’re as pure an expression of that medium as an Alpine lake. I see absolutely nothing wrong with the melding of two capitalistic forces, while I acknowledge that one has been around long enough to fool people into thinking it’s a high-minded power, and the other is so new as to inspire a reflexive sort of panic.
I think anyone in advertising who’s not using AI to some degree is foolish: Cozying up with Google’s Veo to develop the next Depends ad doesn’t jeopardize any Oscar dreams. (It might lower costs and boost some profits—core principles of capitalism—though so far we don’t quite know to what extent.) And I think it’s just astonishing that anyone is still willing to get annoyed with companies such as Coca-Cola for commissioning commercials made with AI.
This year, Coca-Cola released two ads for its “Holidays Are Coming” campaign, one of which was made by Secret Level, a San Francisco–based creative and animation studio with clients throughout media and entertainment. Jason Zada, a longtime Mad Man, founded the company in 2023 and worked on an AI Christmas ad for Coke last year, too.
Since AI video technology has improved significantly over the past year, Zada believes few people would’ve realized Secret Level’s latest spot used AI if Coke hadn’t been so forthright about it. Earlier, Coke screened the ad with focus groups. “And when they tested the ad, it tested very, very well,” Zada said. “When you tell people, ‘Hey, it’s AI,’ there’s this negative reaction to it because of whatever preconceived notion that people have of AI.”
Speaking generously, I’d describe Secret Level’s 78-second ad as “cute enough.” It bounces around the world to different cities, with local creatures eagerly awaiting the dawn of the holiday season: scarf-clad sea lions in San Francisco, koalas in thick jackets in Australia. You get it—I need not go on. As I said: It’s as unextraordinary as 99.98% of all ads. (And as my Australia-born colleague Martin Peers pointed out, it’s kinda dumb, too: Christmas falls in the summer Down Under. Why do the koalas need jackets?)
When I spoke with Zada, he made sure to point out a particular fact: Secret Level’s ads always involve some combination of AI and traditional digital software, and most originate with human-made sketches, though he wouldn’t describe the exact breakdown of how much of each was used in the Coke ad. Assembling the sea lions and koalas took about a month. Without AI, it would’ve taken more like three months—and possibly as long as half a year, he said.
Zada maintains another belief that AI opponents will consider as softheaded as actually expecting Santa to show up. He thinks AI will save Hollywood and Madison Avenue so much money, they’ll fund many more projects than in the past, including many artistic ones. (The counterargument: Sure, we get more projects, but they’re all of diminished value, since by stoking AI, we let slop culture proliferate. Which, all right, maybe!)
“Personally, I think we’re going to see, like, a renaissance of indie filmmaking,” he said. “If a normal animated feature takes at least $60 million to make, and we could make one for $20 million, we’ll make a lot more movies.”
Zada went on. “Hopefully, we can just create more content. I mean, that’s what everybody wants.” Uh-huh.