Mariah has been defrosted, which means it’s officially British Christmas ad season.
The Daily Mail ran a reader poll on the annual granddaddy of those British Christmas ads, John Lewis, with three answers.
“Love it! I like Gloria, Pickles and the heartfelt message.” “No strong emotions... it’s only an advert.” And “I give up! I hate this woke nonsense.”
In North America we only poll ads when Sydney Sweeney is in them.Never a random Christmas ad.
TWENTY YEARS OF CRYING ON SCHEDULE
Britain doesn’t need a Super Bowl. Every November its department stores drop three-minute films and the whole country reviews them. This is ground we’ve covered repeatedly.
The Mail’s Laura Craik put it plainly: “for many of us, ’tis only the season once we’ve watched - and cried over - the John Lewis Christmas advert.”
You should never cry at an ad. Anyway, it started in 2007 with a pile of gifts stacked to cast the shadow of a woman walking her dog.
Then came the cute era: a boy who couldn’t wait to give his parents a present, a penguin, a boxer on a trampoline and a man on the moon.
In 2018 Elton John got a reported £7 million ad about his first piano.
He was the last celebrity John Lewis used until this week. This year’s ad is Saatchi & Saatchi’s fourth in a row
GLORIA SHOULD HAVE JUST SENT THE CASH
Dame Kristin Scott Thomas plays Gloria. She is 66, glamorous and living in what the Mail called “a paean to affluent middle-class living complete with velvet sofa, plump cushions and burgundy walls.”
Her grandkids Freddie and Maggie arrive more than pre-bored. She doesn’t even get a hug. She digs her old toys out of the attic. They look “as impressed as if she’d presented them with a bag of sprouts.” So she starts stuffing cash into envelopes, which is what every grandparent has done since the invention of the envelope.
Then the toy dog talks. Pickles is a vintage Fisher-Price pull-along voiced by Paul Whitehouse, and his advice is “You can do better than cash.” One magic tuk-tuk ride later Gloria has bought John Lewis out of disco balls and built the grandkids a “Gran Cave.”
Pickles isn’t new. Fisher-Price was selling him in 1969 for less than three bucks, with copy no agency would put in front of a client today: “Your preschooler probably needs a new Fisher-Price toy right now.”
Scott Thomas said Gloria “represents so many parents and grandparents who want nothing more than to create lasting memories with the younger generation.” John Lewis says the brief came from research showing 52% of grandparents give cash because they don’t know what kids want. The tagline is “Don’t give up on giving.”
So that ad shows Gloria spending an insane amount at John Lewis decorating a room for her ungrateful grandchildren.
THE NOSTALGIA IS THE PRODUCT
In 2011 John Lewis’s breakout ad, “The Long Wait,” ran on a cover of The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want.” The kid in it was desperate to give a present.
Fifteen years later Sam Fender is covering the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” and the kids need a disco ball to look up from the carpet.
Everything in this year’s ad is borrowed from earlier: a toy older viewers “may recognise from their own childhood,” an old record player and, in the Mail’s words, “surprises that don’t involve a screen.” Last year’s ad sent a dad back to a ’90s rave. Back in 2009 the John Lewis tagline was “Remember how Christmas used to feel? Give someone that feeling.”
They’ve been selling the same feeling for 17 years.
THE NATION HAS NOTES
Sarah Vine: “I can’t express how much I hate this John Lewis advert. Spoilt entitled, rude and overindulged children. Useless, weak parents. Terrible mauling of the Rolling Stones.”
Piers Morgan, quote-tweeting her: “possibly the worst advert I’ve ever seen for anything.”
One Mail commenter: “Granny is thinking, ‘I bet I know where them brats got their attitude from and it wasn’t my daughter that is for sure...’”
TheFedUpDad called it “some old Doris talking to a toy and probably getting scammed by a rickshaw.”
The Sun ran “HO HO NO” and a poll with a £100 voucher. Metro went with “Sorry John Lewis, Barry from EastEnders may have stolen the Christmas advert crown.”
BARRY AND THE BOOM
Lidl went the other way. Shaun Williamson, Barry from EastEnders, leads “Lidl Christmas Everybody,” a rework of Slade’s 1973 “Merry Xmas Everybody” with Chris Kamara along for the ride. “Putting a fresh spin on such an iconic Christmas classic was brilliant fun,” said Barry.
Asda skipped the feelings completely. Lucky Generals set four 30-second spots to a Martin Garrix remix that, per LBB, “breaks away from traditional festive soundtracks.” Asda marketing director Tom Hampson: “customers don’t want to do less at Christmas, they simply want to spend less on it.”
M&S drops their ad next week. Coke hasn’t even shown its AI trucks yet. They come mid-November.
COCKTAIL OF THE WEEK: THE SNOWBALL
In the immortal words of Jackson Lamb from Slow Horses, "It's like trying to explain Norway to a dog." I know I just tried to explain that to Gigi. She had no idea what I was talking about. She didn’t understand watching the midterm elections either. These concepts confound her.
Where was I? If Gloria drinks anything at Christmas, it’s probably the Snowball. That isn’t a joke about grannies either.
The drink reportedly dates back to the 1940s and peaked in Britain in the 1970s, when it lived in the same cupboard as the good glasses and only came out only in December after the John Lewis ad had played for the 74th time. Its base is advocaat, a very strange Dutch egg liqueur whose name most likely comes from the Dutch word for lawyer. And no, that isn’t a Jackson Lamb saying. Although having him in this ad would have been amazing.
An 1882 Dutch dictionary called it a good throat lubricant for people who speak in public. I still remember this oddity of a weird bottle hiding in the bar when I was bartending. It does kind of make me want to make a couple of Fluffy Ducks. That’s a retro cocktail blending advocaat with light rum, cream (or milk) and soda water. Or as Lamb would probably say, “It looks like custard and smells like a retirement home. Leave the bottle.”
The ’70s version was advocaat and lemonade, nothing else, and it tasted like a custard that had been told a secret at Slough House, like how much your grandkids hate your gifts. The classier, older build adds some brandy and lime, which is what makes it an festively ridiculous cocktail.
1 oz advocaat
1/2 oz brandy
Juice of a quarter lime
3 oz lemonade (British lemonade, so Sprite or 7UP)
add a cherry to give it that John Lewis holiday spirit.
Shake the advocaat, brandy and lime with ice. Strain into a glass with one cube. Top with lemonade and garnish with a lime wheel. Do not put it in a “Gran Cave”.
Awesome article. Really strikes a chord. I’ve already forwarded it to so many friends and family. Thanks for posting this.