French supermarket's Christmas advert is worldwide hit (without AI) [video]

[jsheard]

OP is the original upload, but the agency reposted it with English subs after it got popular outside of France: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLERt5ZkpQ4

[deltarholamda]

You can tell it's great visual storytelling because you don't even need to know the words.

I guess the McDonald's ad didn't need words either, but it was just depressing and awful.

[johnnyanmac]

Very cute story. It's a shame my cynic brain is telling me "but wolves can't survive off of berries and nuts". Also, I guess fish are fair game in the forest hierarchy. Should have user an omnivore.

[docdeek]

Intermarche have done some other great Christmas ads on a simialr theme of eating better. Their 2019 ad had a kid realizing that Santa was too rotund to fit down their chimney, so the kid spent the season visiting him at the store and handing him lettuce, homemade vegetable preserves etc. https://youtu.be/DeSG2-FuQhE?si=YvCMY4fR-7K5R8Ke

[recursive]

Is this newsworthy entirely because it was made without AI? It seems like a perfectly fine ad. I just don't understand why this is significant. If people just like this ad enough to vote for it, fine. But I feel like I'm missing something.

[JimDabell]

McDonalds were recently criticised for an AI-generated Christmas advert:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/11/mcdonalds-r...

It seems like an excellent advert because it got everybody talking about McDonalds. Even this thread talks more about McDonalds than the “French supermarket’s” ad. The “French supermarket” isn’t even named in the title. The people who came up with the McDonalds ad were wildly successful in what they set out to do; they even have all the people who hate AI talking about their new ad, even when attempting to showcase somebody else’s ad.

[qingcharles]

We're at that point, where we are literally celebrating something made by humans, not machines. Wild timeline. It will get rarer and rarer as AI becomes quicker, easier, higher-quality and cheaper than it is today.

(Also I think the ad is really nice)

[Aachen]

I don't know about the AI thing or newsworthiness. The reason I upvoted the submission is this (not my comment, but someone else put it into words better than I could think of): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46231908

> Very cute, and full of humorous touches. Worth sharing, for a change (when compared to the vast majority of ads).

It's not strictly within HN's scope of "what hackers find interesting" though. This'll have to be December's exception upvote

[sotix]

It's remarkable that an animated video of this high quality for a French tv commercial is immediately disregarded. Animation has come so far!

[ekjhgkejhgk]

I remember a time when using computer was not well seen when creating art.

Wasn't it even Tron who didn't qualify for the special effects oscar because they "used computers"?

It's interesting that it's no longer "computer bad", now it's "AI bad".

[neom]

I lived through the end of the beginning of computer becoming a primary tool for art, both in building DeviantART and also I was in the second cohort of the first ever digital imaging and technology program in Canada. It was super interesting, during college was the release of the Canon 300D, things moved really quickly after, my graduating year the pro film makers associations introduced a ban on digital work within the associations "club activities" (that lasted about 16 months) - it was funny tho you would see people judging professional salons (contests) zooming in to 30000% looking for signs of digital editing - I was ~20 and it was all very amusing to me, like why did all these old people hate digital art do much? We persisted, bunch of us graduated and started a studio, one day Canon called us, I was one of the first people in the world to use a Canon 5D Mk2 months before it was released, my ads ended up on TV, we won three technical emmy awards, made lots of money, had a great time etc. All the people I know who rode the wave had fantastic careers and worked on interesting stuff, made money etc.(and btw, the last ones standing after all was said and done in the "fuck digital camp"? curmudgeons!)

fwiw: I got out of that industry because it became clear quickly that the technology was going to enable a lot of skilled story tellers to become talented artists, I am a business/technology person who happens to be decent at story telling and naturally not awful at picture making - I would have gotten crushed by what the technologies enabled as the abstractions and programatic features opened up film making to people who didn't want to or couldn't naturally grasp the physics/controls. I'm grateful past me was able to think about this clearly because it lead me to meeting Ben and Moisey and joining them to go on and build DigitalOcean, one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

[prodigycorp]

I think people are setting themselves up for failure if they index their happiness or sense of self satisfaction to their ability to discern what AI-generated content is or not.

Soon, we’ll have no idea what’s AI-generated or not. I care about good, tight story telling.

In the case of this ad.. it’s okay?

[fireflash38]

CGI is still bad tbh. Look at all the boring stuff produced for Marvel.

[class3shock]

You are framing it as "this technological advancement is being thought of as bad because we always think of new technological advancements as bad". AI is bad because of all the ways in which it is objectively bad.

[wat10000]

It seems fundamentally different to put in a ton of work building 3D models, putting together scenes, etc., versus typing a description into a text box and seeing what pops out.

I may be wrong, but I get the sense that computer art was welcomed by people actually working in the field (did professionals criticize the computer graphics in Star Wars or Wrath of Khan?) and it was mostly the lay public that saw it as somehow not real. The opposite seems to be true for AI "art."

[marcosdumay]

You cold find plenty of people complaining about CGI up to earlier this year.

Computers are bad, unless used by exactly the necessary measure to add to the story. Then they are great. But most movies don't do that, and you can see the actors not reacting to the scenes they are in because they have no idea what's actually happening.

The same will probably happen to AI, with also most people overdoing it and making bad stuff. Forever.

[make3]

AI is threatening to remove humans from the whole equation except the very top. AI is an existential threat (not in the Terminator sense).

Especially for art, I'm an AI researcher myself (in bio for health), but I think that ppl are completely understandable for wanting to help artists make a living and want to consume something that someone cared about

[philistine]

It's urban myth. Tron was not disqualified because they used computers, it wasn't nominated because it looked terrible.

[alwayseasy]

366k views in 4 days hardly qualifies as a worldwide hit. It's decent, but other ads saw more views faster this year, like that American Eagle ad with Sweeney.

It's hard to measure on Youtube due to the weight of paid views but still.

Anyway, it's a cute ad.

[jsheard]

I think it mostly blew up via unofficial reposts, since that original version was in French without subtitles.

This one copy on X has 27 million views after 2 days: https://x.com/pawcord/status/1998361498713038874

[netfortius]

Source: Montpellier company: https://www.illogicstudios.com/

Interesting, especially as the city is also host to some of the best gaming developers.

[Zealotux]

It's a cute ad all but as a French kid I used to see similar things often, we have a good culture of animation. Is "they didn't use AI" really a criteria now?

[jfindper]

Advertising that you didn't use AI is definitely a thing now. But this is more likely a jab at the recent McDonalds ad, which did use AI, and which the agency who made the ad vigorously defended the use of AI (hilariously, by bragging about how many hours it took to make that ad).

[stronglikedan]

> Is "they didn't use AI" really a criteria now?

Absolutely. Have you been living under a rock? /jk ;-)

[ekblom]

I think that comment is in response to McDonalds recent AI-slop-ad.

[highleaf]

Great ad, but is it a confirmation that fishes have no soul?

[arraypad]

In France, fish isn't usually considered "meat" (viande).

In my child's school, there are only three dietary choices for the kids who eat at the canteen:

* No pork / sans porc (for the muslim or jewish children)

* No meat / sans viande (but there's still fish!)

* Everything

[Y-bar]

Frutti di mare is fruit of the sea. Fish is flora. QED.

[wiether]

Intermarché owns the biggest fishing org in Franche (Scapêche), so they can't tell their customers to stop eating fish!

[vscode-rest]

It’s okay to eat fish because they don’t have any feelings.

[Vosporos]

That's the point that made me laugh out loud yeah

[troupo]

Everywhere there are talking animals fish are never considered to be sentient :) Think of all the cartoons and movies (except those specifically about fish).

[jedberg]

Apparently fish aren't animals. :)

[barrell]

Everyone keeps making religious connections, but it’s worth pointing out linguistically most countries in Europe (and the world) refer to red meat, poultry, and seafood as entirely separate. Meat often just refers to red meat. English is in the minority to bucket them all under “meat”

[nomercy400]

From a story point or view it makes sense. Why try to please those not present at Christmas table.

If the table was filled with carrots as guests, do you think the rabbits would be invited? The original wolf would.

I know, I know, it is about bettering yourself.

[wzdd]

The wolf wasn't trying to be vegetarian, he was trying to not have the forest creatures run away from him. He achieved his goal by not eating them.

[amelius]

Maybe they did that because the Intermarche makes more on fish than on meat.

[bigbaguette]

Intermarché owns a massive fleet of fishing boats. That could explain this.

[iknowstuff]

Right? I think it’s a christian thing. There’s gotta be something about eating fish being okay in their bible because the amount of times I heard “fish aren’t meat”

[rcarmo]

Very cute, and full of humorous touches. Worth sharing, for a change (when compared to the vast majority of ads).

[daveaiello]

I just got a pair of AirPods Pro 3 and have been looking for a way to use for Live Translation of a language other than Spanish.

I don't feel like I 100% needed to hear the English translation, because the animation tells the story almost without words. But it was a bit more interesting to have my AirPods tell me bits of the words exchanged between the adults and the boy, leading into and out of the video.

[readthenotes1]

The best, imo, is the Corona one

https://youtu.be/AhTM4SA1cCY?si=DVczeTNpaomkB1y0

(That's the extended version for some extra calm).

I do not like the beer, but they nailed what I want for Christmas

[Aachen]

Ehm, so I clicked on 4 random timestamps throughout the hour. Is anything supposed to happen? How is this relayed to the OP?

[stronglikedan]

The little tail wag as he brought his bounty to the table was a nice touch (my fav in fact), and something that AI might have missed.

[TheCycoONE]

I have strong Tawney Scrawny Lion and Un loup dans le potager vibes from this commercial. Delightful.

[christophilus]

Exactly what I thought of. I used to love the Tawny Scrawny Lion when I was a kid.

[ornornor]

I am amazed that a French supermarket selling food is advertising switching to vegetables rather than meat and milk! What a time to be alive

[ddrdrck_]

Well all supermarkets here sell vegatables and many of them also sell fish ... And I see nothing about stopping milk consumption in this ad ?

[throwacct]

Hehe. People have "AI" fatigue (I'll include myself there, too), not only because AI content "feels" soulless, but also because the looming job displacement narrative, exacerbated by CEOs, VCs, etc. There'll be a big consumer pushback against companies using AI to lay off employees, etc

[Zopieux]

It's not just soulless, it's plain ugly. You'd think with their budget these companies would try harder.

[jack_tripper]

>There'll be a big consumer pushback against companies using AI to lay off employees, etc

No there won't. Same how there was no consumer pushback when everything from your Nikes to Apple computers moved to be made in China by slave labor and gutted your manufacturing industry at the same time while consumers and shareholders cheered.

Consumers only care about value for money not where or how a product is made. People's morals go out the window when their hard earned paycheque is on the line. Capitalist competition is dehumanizing by nature. The only thing that can help maintain humanity is government regulation because expecting consumers to prioritize morality over price has always failed.

If AI companies give consumers the same product but cheaper, they'll win.

[Mr_Eri_Atlov]

Very cute and charming ad, the tail wagging at the end was great

[kazinator]

The fish are realistic, and not cutsey cartoon animals, and so the wolf can eat those.

[wat10000]

Where did the wolf get all the dairy products needed for all that rich French cuisine? This ad raises more questions than it answers.

[timbit42]

The advertised grocery store, perhaps?

[PeterStuer]

Are they suggesting fish are vegetables or are these just mammal exclusionaries?

[prmoustache]

I remember a french comic called Le loup en slip (literally the wolf in underwear), was it by any chance made by the same artists? Both the style and story have a lot in common.

[cameldrv]

Honestly I think the reason the ad is so popular is because at the end, the look that the wife gives to the husband is precisely what every man wants in his life.

[chrisgd]

Interesting to me is the fact the supermarkets in France encourage you to buy more veggies.

[BrandoElFollito]

We have the "5 fruit and vegs per day" ingrained since birth (for au least 25 years now). People buy these and if you have z supermarket you want to show that you have good vegs.

[kazinator]

En même temps, si tu mangeais pas tout le fichier ...

Je suis un lex, q'est ce que tu veux que je mange?

[systems]

and by worldwide hit, do they mean europe and few americans?

its not a bad ad, but nothing about it is worldwide

[wyldfire]

C'est bon! Charming video.

[stronglikedan]

Damn, those forest animals really hate their fellow fish!

[yehat]

No matter how the ad is made, it is still an ad. What's probably more important is the message. And this one was dumb as a message and as a real bad advice contributing to the increasingly brainless population who nowadays believes they can go into woods and everything there is friendly if you smile enough.

[JumpCrisscross]

> No matter how the ad is made, it is still an ad

I disagree. An ad is always an ad. But it can also be art. This ad has artistic merit, and I think people are reacting to that.

[senthil_rajasek]

Did I just watch Zootopia? En Francais?

[w4yai]

So anything animated with animals is Zootopia for you ?

[fasteo]

cute ad. Too bad wolves are hypercarnivores. They won't survive without a heavy-meat diet

[frm88]

They are not https://wolf.org/wolf-info/basic-wolf-info/biology-and-behav...

[bilekas]

It's so blatantly obvious there is no AI involved here as you can feel the animation. The sentiment behind everything hits so different to AI. I feel that's what AI sycophants seem to always miss.

I really believe AI will never match the real feeling from created art, but I also don't know why we NEED/WANT it to. It's not a race to the bottom. But AI usage will increase until shareholder value increases.

[rjh29]

People who make and enjoy AI art obviously engage with art in a completely different way. To me and many others, it's so instantly offputting and repulsive.

[throw7]

Ah yes. The christmas ad that has nothing to do with christmas. There's also a fish dish the wolf makes... great attention to detail there.

[nw05678]

The family were sitting around the table eating dinner while the kids was getting a story read to him about the present he just received. Nothing Christmasy about that at all.

[opminion]

It is all about Christmas and New Year: cooking good healthy food for the extended family, and new year's resolutions.

[mytailorisrich]

The ad illustrates the Christmas spirit and fish is a Christian religious symbol and actually traditional at Christmas in some countries and areas. I don't know if they did it on purpose in this ad or just because it would obviously not have worked for the wolf to bring a meat dish.

[epolanski]

The video itself might not be generated, but who knows about the script (quite generic Christmas Carol, Shrek, Wolf trope), the character design, the models, the animations, etc?

edit: getting downvoted to hell, but I think my question is valid. What does it mean "no AI"? Are we just limiting ourselves to the render?

[JumpCrisscross]

> What does it mean "no AI"?

It means no AI. If I say you used no AI but had an LLM write or refine the script, I would have lied.

You may be getting downvoted because your comment's tone can read as accusatively presumptive. "Who knows" isn't a useful contribution to almost any discussion. Which is a shame, because you raise an interesting point–I would personally feel fine saying no AI was used to do work even if I used AI to help me with research. (Provided I read all the primary sources.)

[binary132]

As a wolf, I find this advertisement very offensive to carnitarians. Prey animals were clearly made for our use and enjoyment, and the idea of some sort of multi-special gathering, finding a least common denominator in the predation of pescids (simply absurd for a canid), is insulting to our way of life and frankly racist.

[brohee]

Actually, some wolves are mostly pescetarian https://www.dangerrangerbear.com/the-sea-wolf/ ;)

[Dilettante_]

Major pet peeve of mine is when people unironically spread literal advertisements, whether it's because they're "cute" or people are outraged at them or whatever it may be.

The ad is doing it on purpose. It is literally manipulating you and you are spreading the malicious influence to other people. It's not AI but it sure is 'slop'. Propaganda, even.

...slopagada

[sokoloff]

It's an ad by a grocery store advocating healthy eating and inclusion.

I think people will make reasonable decisions about whether or not to purchase food this winter with or without the "malicious influence" of these ads.

[stfp]

True the vast majority of the time. This ad though doesn’t promote anything malicious. It’s a cute story with the message “eat healthy stuff like vegetables and fish”, with a brand name/ logo at the very end.

[forinti]

This time of year, cinemas show Christmas commercials, such as this one, but two or three in a row.

It becomes funny how hard they try to move us. And in the end it's just for a supermarket.

[RHSeeger]

It is possible to have art and artist be separate things; to acknowledge that that reason a thing was created and/or who it was created by can be looked at separately from the thing itself. This commercial was fun to watch. The Budweiser horse commercials are also fun to watch. But enjoying them has very little to do with a choice to support the creator.

[umanwizard]

The "malicious influence" being (checks notes) spreading propaganda in favor of pescatarianism and healthy natural eating?

[nine_k]

The best ad for diversity and inclusion I've seen so far.

[throwfaraway135]

It is a wholesome ad, but as I don't care that my shoes are handmade, I also don't care if the supermarket ad is without AI.

[umanwizard]

There are people who do care about both. Does that bother you?

[mfcl]

There was controversy because of a Mcdonald's AI ad recently so I think they say that as a little wink.

[conartist6]

You will when all the artists starve.

[profsummergig]

700,000 thousand views in 5 days.

"worldwide hit"

Please make white peoples'* astroturfing great again.

* I include Ashkenazi Jews in this category, in case anyone cares.

[frm88]

23Million on twitter. Link in one of the parent comments.