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Original poster

Why’s the John Lewis’ Xmas Ad so bloody menacing!

872 replies

Purplefoo · 04/11/2025 09:13

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/04/john-lewis-christmas-advert-countdown-90s-club-classic-where-love-lives

I genuinely thought it was about an abusive dad or a murderous son at first! So intense……

OP posts:
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19
Delatron · 04/11/2025 14:24

XelaM · 04/11/2025 14:07

This. I have a teenager who loves getting everyone to open their presents on Christmas Day!

I don't identify with this ad at all and I hate having to watch angsty miserable people in my Christmas ads! Life is bleak enough. I want some feel-good fluffy ads for the Christmas season!

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I didn’t see them as angsty and miserable. I thought it was lovely and nostalgic. And realistic.

Catpiece · 04/11/2025 14:23

Cheeseontoastghost · 04/11/2025 12:56

But it clearly starts with a moody looking Dad, everyone is watching him anxiously, then he finds the record and cheers up.

It centres the Dad
They should have flipped it
Moody teen, finds a gift and cheers up

Dad's are supposed to be mature not petulant.

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Rubbish. It’s just a dad tidying up wrapping paper. Not everyone is moody and has be side-stepped round. You’re looking for dysfunction where none is meant. Why the f would John Lewis have an angry dad in a Christmas advert? The world has gone into overdrive with over analysing who’s got what personality disorder. Lots of people don’t have labels you know.

Delatron · 04/11/2025 14:22

inamarina · 04/11/2025 14:09

Have we watched the dame advert? 😵‍💫 To me, the dad doesn’t look terrifying at all and the women don’t look frantic…

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Yeah agree. I just don’t get that just people think because they aren’t grinning in a cheesy manner the whole way through the as they are all miserable, mood and menacing!

The Dad is deep in thought. The boy is wondering if Dad will like the present. People are clearing up - I don’t grin whilst tidying up. Doesn’t mean I’m not happy.

dynamiccactus · 04/11/2025 14:21

SeaBaseAlpha · 04/11/2025 14:20

I saw it for the first time earlier today.. my only comment to DH was 'Oh look, and in the background the daughter is doing the domestic drudgery of tidying the table whilst the menfolk just stand around'

😁

JL has form for that, remember the one where the boy dancing around in a dress ruined his sister's painting and the mum let him do it? It got pulled, but not because it was sexist.

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 04/11/2025 14:21

Swiftie1878 · 04/11/2025 09:55

It made me cry! I think it’s absolutely brilliant.
Dads and teen sons often struggle to stay connected on a personal level - they can chat about sport etc, but struggle with more meaningful stuff. This shows a magical moment of realising how well they know and love each other. Marvellous! 🩵

That's how I saw it too. It's not particularly festive but it really gets the message home.

dynamiccactus · 04/11/2025 14:20

Edgar the Dragon is still my favourite.

I think if you have to watch something twice and/or come to MN to find out what it's about, it has missed the mark.

I think I missed the first few seconds of it so was completely expecting to find one of them had died at the end!

SeaBaseAlpha · 04/11/2025 14:20

I saw it for the first time earlier today.. my only comment to DH was 'Oh look, and in the background the daughter is doing the domestic drudgery of tidying the table whilst the menfolk just stand around'

😁

cardibach · 04/11/2025 14:15

fan783 · 04/11/2025 13:58

When the dad and son suddenly appear in the empty place - looked like a garage to me but I guess it was the dance floor - I was waiting for a voiceover to start reeling off some sort of abuse statistics. They both looked so stressed and unhappy, it didn't feel uplifting at all. Even worse than the cringey Grinch saying 'spenny' in the Asda advert IMO, at least that one gets more cheerful as it goes on.

And I have a 19 year old son.

You don’t think this gets more cheerful as it goes on? The hug?

Upstartled · 04/11/2025 14:14

XelaM · 04/11/2025 14:07

This. I have a teenager who loves getting everyone to open their presents on Christmas Day!

I don't identify with this ad at all and I hate having to watch angsty miserable people in my Christmas ads! Life is bleak enough. I want some feel-good fluffy ads for the Christmas season!

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Same.

Upstartled · 04/11/2025 14:13

Well, it might. The Bear and the Hare boosted profits in a big way that year. When they nail their Christmas advertising it improves their profits, when half of people are left flat and wondering why it's so glum and dark, then I expect that might have an effect too.

cardibach · 04/11/2025 14:13

Zov · 04/11/2025 13:55

Yeah, my 'kids' are aged 30-ish, and I am not 'hysterical' and neither is any other poster who dislikes this ad, and people ARE allowed different opinions to you!

Calling women hysterical is so misogynistic and demeaning. Hmm Give your head a wobble!

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I do t like the word hysterical anyway, but in fairness they aren’t saying people who don’t like it are hysterical, just the ones going on about it looking like child abused, everyone terrified of the grumpy father. They are being a bit unreasonable in my view

crossstitchingnana · 04/11/2025 14:12

Jesus, pass the sick bucket.

MrsElijahMikaelson1 · 04/11/2025 14:12

Swiftie1878 · 04/11/2025 09:55

It made me cry! I think it’s absolutely brilliant.
Dads and teen sons often struggle to stay connected on a personal level - they can chat about sport etc, but struggle with more meaningful stuff. This shows a magical moment of realising how well they know and love each other. Marvellous! 🩵

This

cardibach · 04/11/2025 14:11

TheFormidableMrsC · 04/11/2025 13:43

I think it’s utterly cruel towards anybody who is experiencing the loss of a loved one and facing a “first” such as Christmas. I speak as somebody recently bereaved. There is nothing merry about it, it’s miserable and depressing and certainly doesn’t make me want to shop in JL. Lots of people I know have said the same.

I have every sympathy for anyone who has lost a loved one, but I fail to see how this ad makes anything worse/addresses that at all.

Needmorelego · 04/11/2025 14:10

BlushingBrightly · 04/11/2025 14:08

I'm just wishing people would stop asking 'do John Lewis even sell vinyl?' It's this week's CANCEL THE CHEQUE

Well perhaps JL need another advert showing the lad going to the store, discovering there the record shop concession in there and choosing the record.
Because if it wasn't for this thread I wouldn't have known they sell vinyl records.

cardibach · 04/11/2025 14:10

lifeonmars100 · 04/11/2025 13:42

I'd just like to know why Christmas ads start in early November and why the ones from the big high street names are discussed as if they potential Oscar winners.

Christmas ads start in November because that’s when the bulk of people start think8ng about Christmas shopping. I mean, not me. I’m last chance saloon as with most else, but most people.
The discussion of the ads comes about when they are a narrative. Only natural to discuss that I think.

inamarina · 04/11/2025 14:09

Purplefoo · 04/11/2025 10:36

The dad looks terrifying, like an abusive rageful man they’re all terrified of ‘setting off.’ The son can’t even tell him he’s not opened his present. The women are frantically tidying away and exchanging ‘looks.’

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Have we watched the dame advert? 😵‍💫 To me, the dad doesn’t look terrifying at all and the women don’t look frantic…

BlushingBrightly · 04/11/2025 14:08

I'm just wishing people would stop asking 'do John Lewis even sell vinyl?' It's this week's CANCEL THE CHEQUE

XelaM · 04/11/2025 14:07

PerfectionInADog · 04/11/2025 14:03

I’ve got teens and adult kids. They’re happy on Xmas day, not looking like they’re treading on eggshells around their dad. And if their dad has missed a present from one of them, they’d have said ‘dad, you’ve got to open this one’.

They all look so miserable and on edge. That doesn’t represent our house with teen kids and I feel sorry if the atmosphere and relationships are like that in anyone’s house at Christmas, or any other day of the year.

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This. I have a teenager who loves getting everyone to open their presents on Christmas Day!

I don't identify with this ad at all and I hate having to watch angsty miserable people in my Christmas ads! Life is bleak enough. I want some feel-good fluffy ads for the Christmas season!

cardibach · 04/11/2025 14:07

Upstartled · 04/11/2025 13:40

Well because they aren't canvassing for friends here, it's a marketing strategy. If your Christmas advert has become the showpiece of your marketing strategy that pulls your accounts from red to black each year, then it's probably not a good idea to be putting half of people off at the outset.

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But it’s made people talk. That’s the aim here for reasons PPs have said. And I doubt think8ng the ad is a bit dark would make someone not shop in JL.

LaLaLoca · 04/11/2025 14:07

The ad feels awkward, perhaps it’s the acting. Not sure why but it feels a bit off, not as bad as the MCDonalds and the bereaved child, that was simply appalling

Needmorelego · 04/11/2025 14:04

notacooldad · 04/11/2025 13:37

Denim4ever
Also, do they even sell vinyl?
Are you actually being serious?

Well apparently they do.
They have a record shop concession so I have learned from this thread.
(permanent or temporary I don't know).
It wouldn't have occurred to me to go to John Lewis for records to be honest.

Upstartled · 04/11/2025 14:03

Purplefoo · 04/11/2025 13:46

Can posters try and stop referring to people with different opinions as ‘hysterical’ and other such names.

This is a thread about an advert not an excuse to set loose your inner mean girl.

Oh, I don't mind, I'm not lumbered with miserable teen sons or a distant and grumpy husband, which is the lens through which this durge makes sense, apparently. I'll just have to live with my cheerful teen boys and husband and wonder what the fuck John Lewis are playing at instead.

PerfectionInADog · 04/11/2025 14:03

Borntorunfast · 04/11/2025 13:43

I think that's possibly it - I have teenagers (including a boy) so totally get where this ad is coming from. Maybe the hysterical reactions to it are from those with younger kids who can't imagine what having teens is actually like?? Who knows - but yeah, I found it beautiful and not even remotely 'menacing' :)

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I’ve got teens and adult kids. They’re happy on Xmas day, not looking like they’re treading on eggshells around their dad. And if their dad has missed a present from one of them, they’d have said ‘dad, you’ve got to open this one’.

They all look so miserable and on edge. That doesn’t represent our house with teen kids and I feel sorry if the atmosphere and relationships are like that in anyone’s house at Christmas, or any other day of the year.