Famous AI commercials
| Ad | When | Made by | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coca-Cola, “Holidays Are Coming” | November 2024 | Secret Level, Silverside AI and Wild Card, as reported | Creatives called it “soulless”. Not pulled; cost not disclosed (NBC News) |
| Coca-Cola, “Holidays Are Coming” | November 2025 | Silverside, with a second version by Secret Level | The Verge called it “a sloppy eyesore”. Not pulled; cost not disclosed (The Verge) |
| McDonald’s Netherlands, “The Most Terrible Time of the Year” | 6 December 2025 | Agency TBWA\Neboko, production company The Sweetshop | Pulled within days after a backlash (NBC News) |
| Kalshi, NBA Finals ad | June 2025 | PJ Accetturo, with Google Veo 3 | Made in about two days; the brand said it was “incredibly pleased” (NPR) |
| Svedka, “Shake Your Bots Off” | Super Bowl LX, February 2026 | Silverside AI | Called the first primarily AI-generated Super Bowl ad; mixed reviews (Adweek) |
| Toys”R”Us origin film | June 2024 | Native Foreign, with OpenAI’s Sora | Immediate backlash; the brand called it “a test” (NBC News) |
What did they cost?
Almost nobody says, and the one public figure covers only the AI generations. Kalshi told NPR that “the actual cost of prompting the AI … was under $2,000”, but declined to disclose what it paid the maker. Coca-Cola declined to comment on the cost of its 2025 campaign, and McDonald’s gave no figure.
The brands and makers did tell reporters how much work went in.
| Ad | Team | Time | AI generations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kalshi, via NPR | One experienced creator | About two days | About 300 to 400 for 15 usable clips |
| Coca-Cola 2025, via The Verge | About 100 people, including five AI specialists | Now “around a month”, against a year before | More than 70,000 clips |
| McDonald’s Netherlands, via NBC News | Ten people, full time, says The Sweetshop’s chief executive | Five weeks; another account says seven | Not given |
So the AI part is cheap and the people part is not. For a short ad made by a specialist, published prices run from about $300 to $900.
Why were some loved and others pulled?
The tool gets noticed, but the moment, the idea and the craft decide which way the reaction goes.
The moment. The backlash clustered around Christmas, when people expect warmth and craft from brands they grew up with. Neeraj Arora, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, told NBC News: “you throw AI into the mix that is not a fit, that is not a fit with holiday timing, but also, to some degree, also Coke, what the brand means to people.” Kalshi, a brand built on chaotic, fast internet humour, got the opposite reaction.
The idea. Many McDonald’s critics objected to the concept itself. One, quoted by NBC News, wrote: “Regardless of being made with AI, this is just a bad idea for a commercial.”
The craft. Campaign reported nearly 1,900 YouTube comments on Coca-Cola’s ad, many attacking the use of AI, while eagle-eyed viewers pointed at trucks that had gained an extra row of wheels.
Extra scrutiny. At Super Bowl 2026, about 6% of online talk about the ads was about AI, and close to half of that was negative, according to Meltwater. That is about the same as the roughly 52% negative share for Super Bowl ads overall, but Meltwater still read it as AI ads drawing “outsized negativity”, aimed mostly at Dunkin’, while Svedka’s reception was “largely neutral”.
What to take from them for your own AI ad
- Pick an idea that suits AI. Surreal, fast and funny worlds play to its strengths; remaking a beloved handmade classic invites comparison.
- Keep the product real. Build the scene around real product shots, as in AI UGC ads: agency, freelancer or tool?
- Check every frame. Count the wheels, read the labels, watch the hands.
- Label it where the platform asks for it.
We make AI commercials and brand films, storyboarded first so you approve the idea before anything is generated. See AI video production for brands.
Tell us the product, the platform and the deadline. We confirm a fixed price before any work starts.
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How much did the Kalshi AI ad cost?
Kalshi told NPR that the cost of prompting the AI was under $2,000. It declined to disclose the fee it paid the maker, PJ Accetturo, so the full cost is not public. He said it took 300 to 400 generations to get 15 usable clips.
Why was the McDonald's AI ad pulled?
McDonald's Netherlands removed its AI Christmas ad, 'The Most Terrible Time of the Year', a few days after it went up on 6 December 2025, following a backlash. Many critics objected to the gloomy idea as much as to the use of AI.
Did Coca-Cola use AI for its Christmas ad?
Yes. Coca-Cola remade its 'Holidays Are Coming' ad with AI in 2024 and again in 2025. It did not disclose the cost of either. For 2025 it said about 100 people worked on it, including five AI specialists who prompted and refined more than 70,000 AI clips.
What was the first AI-generated Super Bowl commercial?
Adweek called Svedka's 'Shake Your Bots Off', made by Silverside AI for Super Bowl LX in February 2026, the first primarily AI-generated Super Bowl commercial.
How we checked this
We read each ad's story in the reporting linked on this page (NPR, NBC News, The Verge, Campaign and Adweek) and in Meltwater's Super Bowl data on 29 October 2026, and a second, independent check re-read those articles the same day; its corrections are applied, including the exact wording of quotes. Team sizes, timings and the Kalshi figure are what the brands and makers told reporters, not audited numbers. The only cost figure we found is Kalshi's, and it covers the AI generations alone. Meltwater's figures are its own data as a media-monitoring company. If something has changed, tell us on WhatsApp and we will update this page.
Sources
- NBC News: Coca-Cola's 2024 AI holiday ad and the reaction from creatives, 18 November 2024
- The Verge: Coca-Cola's 2025 AI holiday ad: cost not disclosed, team size and clip count, 3 November 2025
- NBC News: McDonald's Netherlands pulls its AI Christmas ad, with the production company's account, 11 December 2025
- NPR: Kalshi's AI NBA Finals ad: prompting cost and generations per usable clip, 23 June 2025
- Adweek: Svedka's Super Bowl LX ad, the first primarily AI-generated Super Bowl commercial, 3 February 2026
- NBC News: the backlash to the Toys"R"Us AI film, June 2024
- Campaign: Coca-Cola's 2025 holiday campaign: YouTube comments and truck wheels, November 2025
- Meltwater: Super Bowl 2026 commercials data analysis, AI share of mentions and sentiment, 10 February 2026