A frost on the windows, snowflakes drifting down, and early sunsets are nature’s cues that Christmas is coming. But the delicately wrapped presents, mall Santas, and jingles on TV are marketing’s cues telling us the same thing. Do we really need to hear It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas to believe it?
When you think of Christmas marketing campaigns, what comes to mind? Is it the classic jolly face of Santa Claus on a can of Coca-Cola? Or maybe it’s a grown Kevin McCallister using Google Home products to protect his house?
Coca-Cola has instilled nostalgia in audiences since 1937, when its seasonal ads began featuring Santa Claus drinking the beverage. While Coca-Cola’s holiday ads are still popular, the company’s commercial this Christmas season is gaining attention not for its originality or positivity, but for how it was made. In the short film, Coca-Cola trucks are driving on snow-covered roads into a town while wild animals appreciate the beverage delivery from afar. While the ad, a reimagining of the company’s 1995 spot, “The Holidays are Coming,” seems family-friendly, encouraging, and happy, it is getting backlash for being entirely made with AI.
This marks the second consecutive year Coca-Cola has faced backlash for using AI in its Christmas campaign, with critics arguing the approach lacks the human touch traditionally associated with festive campaigns. Despite the company’s attempt to tap into nostalgia with this year’s remake of one of its classic ads, Coca-Cola is still receiving backlash for both of these advertisements. However, the engagement from those disappreciative of AI usage is also helping them gain traction.
AI is ubiquitous today, whether we want to accept it or not. On almost all of our devices, there is an AI bot to help answer any questions we may have. If you own a Google Home speaker, all you have to say is “Hey Google,” then ask whatever question you need to. To promote the Google Home speaker in 2018, Google created an ad centered on the star of Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin, where the actor reenacted the plot of the movie – being stuck home alone during the holidays. In the ad, Culkin asks, “Hey Google, what’s on my calendar for today?” and the device replies, “You have one event called ‘House to Yourself.’”
While this ad focuses on an AI product it’s trying to sell to consumers, Google utilizes AI much more tastefully than Coca-Cola did. In the Coca-Cola ad, an animation was fully made with AI, which lacked the human touch and nostalgia that consumers crave this time of year. In the Google ad, a traditional Christmas movie was used to bring nostalgia to modern marketing. While Kevin (Culkin’s character in Home Alone) didn’t have a Google Home speaker in 1990, this is a product that families purchase today to keep in their homes. Marketers can use AI appropriately by being aware of their target audience’s needs and preferences.
So, are Christmas ads about spreading holiday cheer or making money? As important as it is to lean into the holiday season, it’s just as important to temper it. As the busiest shopping time of the year, companies want to capitalize on consumer expectations by releasing Christmas-related advertisements, but when these are more focused on making a sale than making a connection, the ads lack Christmas cheer.
Ads should be playing into nostalgia, mentioning the true meaning of Christmas, and distancing themselves from complete usage of AI if they’d like to have a positive perception around the holidays. Nostalgia marketing relies on evoking positive feelings about the past and applies to products, marketing communications, and brand experiences. Christmas is a tradition spent amongst families. It’s not a new holiday that requires revolutionized marketing ideas. To be successful and outwardly and positively perceptive, brands should consider their own Christmases and what makes them joyful when celebrating the holiday.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lfHXKbsMLE
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/how-advertising-has-shaped-christmas-over-the-years
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/383126312_Nostalgic_consumer_trends_and_nostalgia_marketing