But unlike the trucks, actors, roads and holiday lights of 29 years ago, the 2024 versions of these ads were created with AI. Forbes senior contributor Dani Di Placido writes about the backlash the ads have received on social media. Three AI studios—Secret Level, Silverside AI and Wild Card—created the ads using multiple AI models. And while the ads do show Coca-Cola delivery trucks, winter weather, towns, lights, people and animals (lots of them, including neighborhood polar bears), there’s quite a bit that doesn’t seem right. The images look realistic enough, but they wouldn’t be mistaken for actual video of vehicles, animals or people. Each separate image is only on screen for a few seconds, making the commercials little more than quick montages.

The ads have been derided as boring, missing true emotion and uninspiring. Marketing-Interactive reported that 83% of people who saw the ad were neutral in their feelings about the company’s use of generative AI, while nearly 8% felt it was a bit off. About the same amount felt positively about it, based on a statement that Coca-Cola had used AI as an “efficient” way of saving time and money.

While Coca-Cola said it was able to use AI to produce something that would take a year in the space of two months, critics pointed out that AI uses a lot of computing power—meaning it might have been an efficient use of time, but not of electricity. Others noted that AI video rendering currently can’t create legible text, yet the Coca-Cola logo is throughout the advertisements—suggesting they also were thoroughly edited by people. While Coca-Cola has succeeded in creating an ad campaign using AI, at the same time, it’s showing other brands why they should think twice about making the same choice.

History and nostalgia are always important marketing tools. The History Factory and Certus Insights recently surveyed consumers and found 54% want more history-based content from brands on social posts and campaigns. I talked to History Factory Director of Marketing & Communications Adrian Gianforti and Senior Director of Business Insight and Performance Erin Narloch, and Certus Insights President Andrew Rugg about the survey. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.

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Bluesky’s signups have surged since Trump’s election earlier this month, but X has been losing users consistently since Musk bought the network, gutted its content moderation staff and dismantled its user verification policies. Last September, X had 588 million users—down from 611 million just five months earlier, and a YouGov survey last August found that 42% of daily X users had a negative opinion of the site, writes Forbes contributor Brad Adgate.

Since Musk bought Twitter in April 2022, disaffected users have been searching for a similar social network. It seems like Bluesky might be winning the race—partially for being “not X,” Laura Graham of North Carolina Central University told Forbes contributor Peter Suciu. But it also has features that, as Forbes senior contributor Paul Tassi writes, make sense—like being able to block users and customize your feed.

Meanwhile, X isn’t doing itself any favors. Last Friday, it introduced new terms of service stating that all posts are used to train Grok, the chatbot for Musk’s xAI service—something users could opt out of previously, writes Forbes senior contributor Kate O’Flaherty.