A French supermarket’s Christmas advert is doing something most global brands only dream of: connecting deeply with millions of people around the world, without a single frame of generative AI.

The two-and-a-half-minute film, "Le mal aimé," made for Intermarché, tells a simple yet powerful story: a lonely wolf, feared and avoided by other forest animals, chooses to change.

Instead of hunting, he learns to cook vegetables and brings a homemade dish to a Christmas feast, gradually earning friendship and acceptance.

The narrative unfolds in a warm, painterly animated world, bookended by live-action scenes of a child soothed by the tale at Christmas. What might sound like a gentle children’s fable has captured hearts far beyond France.

Within days of its December debut, it racked up millions of online views, inspiring fan art, international praise and emotional posts from viewers who say the wolf’s journey echoes their own struggles with belonging.

“I think people needed this,” creative director Julien Bon of Romance, the agency behind the ad, told The Associated Press. “It fills something that was missing in most people's life at this moment: a bit of hope, a bit of togetherness.”

Victor Chevalier, Romance’s senior copywriter, said the response was rooted in real emotion. In an age where digital ads increasingly rely on AI shortcuts, he said, audiences have responded to the hand-crafted humanity behind the film. “AI cannot create stories,” Chevalier said. “We create stories.”

He said the success of Le Mal Aimé lay in the pace of its making. “What makes the success of our commercial is that we took time,” he said. Indeed, the commercial was crafted over months by a team of artists and animators, who painstakingly shaped every gesture, expression and detail.

That traditional artistry is part of what people have come to celebrate online, especially as mega brands roll out glossy, AI-generated holiday spots that have drawn criticism for feeling hollow or soulless.

The story’s emotional core is amplified by the classic French pop song “Le mal aimé.” It's a nostalgic touch that has itself seen a surge in streams as audiences rediscover the tune in the context of the wolf’s arc.

Intermarché’s raison d’être is, of course, selling groceries. But the advert’s makers say the aim was larger: to remind people of what unites us when the world feels fractured. The wolf’s leap from outsider to welcomed guest, Bon said, mirrors a collective yearning for empathy in an age of algorithm-driven divides.

The commercial’s viral trajectory shows no sign of slowing. On social platforms from Europe to the U.S., viewers are sharing versions with subtitles, posting reactions and, in some cases, saying they wish Le Mal Aimé were a full feature rather than a two-minute advert.

For a supermarket ad in 2025 — as companies like Nvidia and OpenAI power a global rush toward automated content — it is a rare kind of impact, suggesting an appetite not just for spectacle, but for stories that still feel human-made.