Full Analysis Summary
Intermarché viral Christmas ad
Intermarché’s two-and-a-half-minute Christmas advert "Unloved" (Le mal aimé) is an animated, painterly short about a lonely wolf who gives up hunting, learns to cook vegetables and wins acceptance at a holiday feast.
The spot has gone viral worldwide, drawing hundreds of millions of views and inspiring fan art and calls for a longer version.
Media outlets like the Killeen Daily Herald and the Associated Press note its short-film feel and cultural impact, and Claude François’s song "Le mal aimé" has seen a streaming surge since the ad aired.
Coverage Differences
Tone and emphasis
The Killeen Daily Herald (Other) frames the spot primarily as a piece of human craftsmanship and emotional storytelling that moved audiences and inspired fan art, reporting that creators described the message as being “about empathy and belonging more than groceries.” The Associated Press (Western Mainstream) similarly highlights emotional impact but emphasizes how viewers reacted to it as if it were a short film and quotes Romance’s Maïté Orcasberro saying, “It’s about being understood,” which the AP uses to underline the advert’s broader aim beyond retail. Both report the streaming surge of Claude François’s song but the Killeen piece stresses viral metrics and artwork responses while AP stresses the spot’s filmic reception and explicit contrast with AI-generated holiday ads.
Handcrafted ad avoids AI
Reporters note the advert was crafted over months by a team at the agency Romance and was deliberately produced without generative AI.
Sources describe a hand-made, painterly animation style and careful human craftsmanship that creators say audiences have responded to.
The Killeen Daily Herald explicitly says the ad intentionally avoided generative AI.
The AP contrasts the spot's hand-made detail with recent glossy, AI-generated holiday ads.
Coverage Differences
Narrative focus
Both sources report the deliberate avoidance of generative AI, but the Killeen Daily Herald (Other) highlights the makers’ claim that audiences appreciated the human craftsmanship and emotional storytelling. The Associated Press (Western Mainstream) frames the avoidance of AI as a point of contrast — using the spot’s hand-made detail to differentiate it from other, glossier AI-generated holiday spots. The difference is primarily emphasis: Killeen foregrounds audience response to human making, while AP situates the choice in an industry trend context.
Audience reactions and impact
Audience reaction has been pronounced.
Viewers have shared subtitled versions and reacted as if watching a short film, with some wishing for a feature-length adaptation.
They have also created fan art and boosted streams of Claude François's song.
Both outlets report these cultural aftershocks.
The Killeen Daily Herald highlights fan art and personal reactions.
The AP documents subtitled shares and film-like viewer responses and quotes a Romance representative on the ad's emotional aim.
Coverage Differences
Missed information / Emphasis
Killeen emphasizes the grassroots fan response — fan art, personal reactions and calls for a longer version — as evidence of emotional resonance. AP gives more detail on how audiences engaged (subtitled versions, wish for a feature) and directly quotes a Romance executive about the ad’s purpose. Neither source provides metrics beyond “hundreds of millions” in Killeen’s reporting, and there is no independent audience-research data cited; this absence is a shared omission.
Ad intent and framing
Both sources report creators saying the ad's intent was to evoke empathy and belonging rather than to sell groceries, but they place that claim in slightly different contexts.
The Killeen Daily Herald quotes creators describing the message as "about empathy and belonging more than groceries," while the Associated Press frames the claim as part of a broader comment on social fracture and the advert's aim "to evoke empathy and remind people of what unites them in a fractured world."
Coverage Differences
Tone / Narrative framing
Killeen (Other) presents the creators’ statement as a direct description of the spot’s message — emphasizing belonging — and leans into the audience response as proof. AP (Western Mainstream) integrates the creators’ claim into a wider cultural reading, connecting the advert’s emotional aim to wider social fractures and industry trends around AI in holiday advertising. Both sources are reporting creators’ claims rather than independently verifying intent, and neither provides internal creative documents to substantiate the attribution.