Classical Works by Warhol, Vermeer, Van Gogh, and Other Painters are Used in Coca-New Cola's Commercial... offering soda

Sixty years after Andy Warhol sneered at consumerist culture in his silkscreens of Coke bottle after Coke bottle with the phrase "A Coke is a Coke," Coca-Cola is responding. Their most recent advertising appears to be saying that if you can't beat them, co-opt them.

Last week, Coca-Cola launched its newest worldwide campaign, "Masterpiece," which contains a short film that highlights a variety of famous and modern artworks that have all been animated in different artistic approaches to emphasize Coke bottles.

The two-minute movie begins in an art gallery with a student sketching artworks on display as part of a lesson who appears to be lacking in inspiration. He clearly requires a Coke.

Thankfully, a bottle in Andy Warhol's Coca-Cola (4) (1962) is grabbed by an arm from French artist Aket's Divine Idyll (2022), peeled off, and thrown across the exhibition. Figures in J.M.W. Turner's The Shipwreck (1805), Edvard Munch's The Scream (1895), and Utagawa Hiroshige's Drum Bridge and Setting Sun Hill then catch the bottle and pass it along (1858).

The bottle can also be seen in the creations of modern artists like Fatma Ramadan, Stefania Tejada, and Vikram Kushwah. Even directly in Van Gogh's bedroom in Arles, Wonderbuhle's 2022 picture You Can't Curse Me places its subject (1889).

All of that happens before Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl Earring (1665)—who else?—cracks open the Coke bottle for our unfortunate pupil. He fills up on liquids and is suitably revived. Then a slogan tells us that this is "True Magic".

Real Magic, according to Pratik Thakar, global head of creative strategy and integrated content for Coca-Cola, "is all about creating human connection and delivering enchantment to daily events."

A gallery of the featured artworks and interviews with the modern artists whose works were included in the campaign are also part of the campaign's internet build-out.

These young artists discuss Coca-influence Cola's as a brand in addition to discussing their inspirations for the particular pieces in the movie. Tejada, who lives in Paris, recounted growing up with Coca-Cola all around her; Wonderbuhle, a South African artist; and Aket, who believes the company's advertising "push us to live our goals every day."

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, on the other hand, expressed enthusiasm at the chance to actually link the pop artist's creations with the Coca-Cola brand. Michael Dayton, the foundation's director of licensing, marketing, and sales, said that these artworks, along with pieces by up-and-coming artists from all around the world, "celebrate the inspirational power of visual art through the wonderful lens of Coca-Cola."

In a continuous effort by Coca-Cola to ensure that a Coke is more than just a Coke, the campaign will be rolled out across Latin America, Asia, and other markets. It will also take the form of 3D billboards and digital collectibles.