Articles · AI Design
Comments say "AI slop", surveys say yes. What Fanta's AI Halloween campaign leaves behind
Fanta's Halloween campaign, made with an AI studio, is getting slammed online. Yet consumer testing came out the other way. Who did what, why reactions split, and what designers working on brands should take from it.
Translated from the Korean original. Read in Korean
Three weeks before Halloween, one drinks campaign has become a regular topic in design media: Coca-Cola's Fanta and its "Haunted Universe".
Fanta wants to own Halloween, the way Coca-Cola calls Christmas to mind. So unlike the past two years of borrowing film characters, this year it created four monsters of its own, including a cyborg Frankenstein and a werewolf DJ. And it made them with an AI studio.
First, a disclaimer. The campaign videos are public, but there's little hard data on the reaction. For each number below, I've noted who measured it and how.
Who did what
The AI studio GRAiL produced it. A cinematic trailer came out on August 24, and the campaign then expanded to 50 markets. Fanta's account: writers, technologists, creators and artists worked together, and AI was used in the research and production phases. A human-led effort, in other words.
Ibrahim Khan, Fanta's global VP of marketing, said: "Some people think you press a few buttons and Fanta Universe pops up — it's taken us a year and a half."
Comments and numbers went opposite ways
The reaction split in two.
Online, it was mostly harsh. YouTube commenters quickly labeled the trailer "AI slop", and Creative Bloq reported that almost all comments were negative, with many vowing never to buy Fanta again. Alongside complaints that the visuals lacked polish, there was strong opposition to AI imagery itself.
The survey numbers tell another story.
When consumer research firm Zappi tested Fanta's limited Halloween products, 85% said they felt distinct, against a 71% norm, and 62% said they seemed better, against 47%. Zappi's read is that people who watched the ad itself mostly liked it and weren't very concerned with the technology behind it.
Meanwhile, in a separate July survey, 74% of Gen Z said they react negatively to AI-made marketing, and 72% said they'd taken some action against a brand because of it.
The two surveys differ in audience and questions, so neither settles it. One thing is clear, though: people quietly choosing products and people writing comments can react very differently.
Why the split?
Several things seem to overlap.
"Made with AI" came first. Fanta didn't hide its AI use. That's good, but from that moment people read every small awkwardness as AI's fault. What would have been "style" from a human becomes "because it's AI".
The characters were new. For the past two years, Fanta borrowed beloved characters like Chucky and Beetlejuice. This year's monsters are unfamiliar. Without the affection a known face brings, craft gets judged more harshly.
People watched in different places. In a survey, people watch the whole ad, then answer. In a comment section, they judge on a first impression in a few seconds. The subtle awkwardness of AI video shows more in quick first impressions.
What designers working on brands should take away
Fanta's case isn't about whether to use AI. Many brands already do, and as I noted last week, 91% of designers use AI weekly. The question is how you use it, and how you talk about it.
| Decision | Fanta's choice | Worth considering |
|---|---|---|
| Disclose AI use? | Yes | Right call. But be specific about where it was used |
| Use it for what? | The whole character video | Be careful where awkwardness shows, like faces and motion |
| What to make new? | Unfamiliar characters | New characters get judged on craft more strictly |
| Judge reaction by? | Surveys and comments | Expect numbers and comments to disagree, from the start |
Sources: Creative Bloq, eMarketer, Zappi product analysis, Zappi ad analysis, DesignRush, Marketing-Interactive.
So, for now
When a client asks "should we do this campaign with AI?", there are now some questions worth raising.
- Split where to use it first. Decide separately between places where awkwardness hides, like concept exploration, backgrounds and props, and places where it shows instantly, like faces and hands.
- Write how you'll say "made with AI" in advance. Don't hide it, but be specific: rather than "an AI ad", say "planned by people, with AI used for this part".
- Watch the first three seconds on their own. Beyond screening the full cut, review it like a social feed, a few seconds before scrolling past. That's where the comments come from.
Whether AI images can be used in client work is covered in Can you use AI-generated images in client work?, and graphic and branding references are under Graphic / Branding.
Sources: Creative Bloq, eMarketer, Zappi, Adweek, DesignRush, Marketing-Interactive.