Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

The John Lewis advert for home insurance

221 replies

DartmoorChef · 13/10/2021 19:33

Surely I can't be the only person to find this advert absolutely terrible. Yay let's put a boy in a dress and make up and be so woke... and let him completely trash the house while mummy looks on indulgently because apparently home insurance covers wilful damage these days...

If I had gone on the rampage around the house like that... my backside would have been so sore I wouldn't have say down for a week, nor would I have been allowed out or given spending money until I was 35 Grin

Seriously though, this has to be one of the most absurd adverts I've ever seen and yes I know by posting about it, that is probably the desired effect but it actually puts me off shopping at John Lewis or using their services.

Yanbu - ridiculous advert
Yabu - it's fine and a bit of fun

OP posts:
Thefartingsofaofdenmarkstreet · 13/10/2021 19:35

There is a thread here about this

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4372501-John-Lewis-and-it-s-gender-relaxed-ad?msgid=111605505#111605505

It's a load of aul shite.

Caliexpidocioussuper · 13/10/2021 19:36

YANBU
It even says under the advert ‘cover for accidental damage’ whilst a child deliberately trashes a house because he’s…fabulous?

theliverpoolone · 13/10/2021 19:39

I must say, I saw it yesterday, watched it wondering what on earth it was advertising, then when I realised at the end I thought similar to you. Your kid can chuck food and paint all over your walls but hey, that's OK, you're insured......HmmHmm

EishetChayil · 13/10/2021 19:40

It has Stonewall written all over it. Last stand before this stupid ideology collapses in on itself.

MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 13/10/2021 19:41

Hate it. How can anyone think that this is a positive portrayal of a gender non-conforming boy? By all means show gender non-conforming kids - that's great - but as normal children, not some drag queen parody. It's very sexualised too, with all the pouting and posing.

Original poster
DartmoorChef · 13/10/2021 19:41

I dread to think what their Christmas ad will be like. Normally they are great.

OP posts:
CaveMum · 13/10/2021 19:42

It’s a giant metaphor for the current situation - the male gets to rampage and destroy at will, including his sister’s work while the mother looks on appearing utterly worn down by it all.

Underbox · 13/10/2021 19:43

I watched it yesterday. I assumed it was a cleaning advert or some sort of super nanny behavioural issues programme! Who lets their kid trash their home like that? I am certain a John Lewis insurance policy wouldn't cover that type of deliberate damage!

AFuturisticalSound · 13/10/2021 19:45

It's awful, why would they think that watching a child trashing the house would make anyoe buy their insurance. I've only seen it once, I'd turn over if it came on again, it actually upset me a bit watching all that damage

alsorang · 13/10/2021 19:46

My household insurance renewal is due soon. I can now knock John Lewis straight off the list of possible new insurers.

Waspsarearseholes · 13/10/2021 19:47

I just watched it on YouTube. Infuriating guff. What a load of wank. The boy in his mum's clothes (so not cross-gender/non-comforming, just dressing up in his mum's clothes rather than wearing his own dress) prancing through the house making such a mess and being so destructive is absolutely dreadful.

Mamamia7962 · 13/10/2021 19:51

Underbox - No it doesn't cover for deliberate damage, it covers for unintentional accidental damage.

Stupid advert. Wrong on so many levels.

JoborPlay · 13/10/2021 19:56

DH showed it to me last night and we both agreed it was a pretty perfect depiction of DS. He loves dressing up, wearing make, posing and pouting. I've no idea where he gets it from, we're virtually screen free, and I'm quite a tomboy! He also manages to create mess wherever he goes, not intentionally though.

Caffeinefirst · 13/10/2021 19:56

Sadly I have JL House insurance.

Typically the sister is quietly painting whilst the brother expresses himself loudly and “performatively”. The message is that this behaviour is to be celebrated. I know it’s only an ad but i can’t stand it.

PyjamaFan · 13/10/2021 19:56

It's a horrible advert with a horrible message. I would love to have been a fly on the wall in that meeting, what on Earth were they thinking?

Mydogmylife · 13/10/2021 20:13

@JoborPlay

DH showed it to me last night and we both agreed it was a pretty perfect depiction of DS. He loves dressing up, wearing make, posing and pouting. I've no idea where he gets it from, we're virtually screen free, and I'm quite a tomboy! He also manages to create mess wherever he goes, not intentionally though.
That's all very nice, but the fact remains that the jl insurance doesn't cover intentional damage - the advert stinks and is misleading
QuestionEverythingBaby · 13/10/2021 20:14

as normal children, not some drag queen parody.
That's exactly what it was like, urgh.
I saw it yesterday and it made me very uncomfortable, it's a bit too sexualised for my liking 🤢

cariadlet · 13/10/2021 20:22

Lots of comments about this on Twitter (which is where I saw the video).

I can't decide which makes me angrier:

The idea that the only way boys can play with dressing up in traditionally female clothes is by turning into a sexualised mini drag queen.

Or the "gentle parenting" which I assume is practised in that house. I can't think of any other reason why a child that age would think that they could get away with such deliberate destruction.
What's the betting that he wouldn't be made to clean up his own mess.

DumbestBlonde · 13/10/2021 20:22

Has anyone seen a certain family of vlogges who have (I believe)g ently nudged their eldest son in the "gender confusion" direction. I thought they had somehow made their way into the TV commercial world (as opposed to the blanant commercality of their youtibe channel).
I hate the JL ad; it's ridiculous and misleading in so many ways - and goes on too long....

Mind you I hate a LOT of the TV ads Angry {angry]

MichelleScarn · 13/10/2021 20:25

The jl fb response seems to be 'but the girl is wearing trousers and no one cares you horrible people '...Hmm

LittleGwyneth · 13/10/2021 20:30

Boy wearing dress - fine. Great. No issue.
Boy trashing the house - not fine.
People praising the boy for wearing an outfit that a girl wouldn't be praised for -not fine.
People assuming this child is trans because he's wearing a dress - very not fine.

PiddleOfPuppies · 13/10/2021 20:33

It's the utter passivity from the two females (sister and mum) that grates on me. Why can't his sister fight back when he ruins her painting? What is preventing his mum from stopping his wilful destruction? "Boys will be boys" gets reinforced once again.

QuestionNumberOne · 13/10/2021 20:36

Hate it:

The kid is acting like a camp adult, not a kid.
The male child is allowed to do whatever damage he wants and is indulged.
He mustn’t be stopped in any way or you will be labelled a bigot.

Idiots.

MovedByFanciesThatAreCurled · 13/10/2021 20:37

It’s absolutely awful. I couldn’t care less that the kid is in a dress. What I do care about is the fact that we are meant to think the kid is suddenly ‘free’ because he basically trashes the house. Not just knocks a few things over but wilfully smears paint on the walls etc. All this, whilst the Mum and daughter watch on, passively. It’s also actually misleading too. Their insurance doesn’t cover this type of wilful destruction. Only accidental. The whole thing is a badly thought out, regressive and want-to-be woke piece of infuriating trash.

Clymene · 13/10/2021 20:38

I have four issues with this shit ad:
1.The boy is wearing a dress so getting away with horrible behaviour (if he'd been in trousers and a T-shirt, it would not have been considered charming/cute/expressive). But he's decorating himself with trans colours so it's fine!

  1. The boy is intimidating the passive female characters. They both sit by while he trashes the house and their things. He has destroyed his mother's belongings and his sister's art materials. This is hugely uncomfortable viewing and, especially at a time when male violence is under scrutiny, seems very ill timed.
  2. This is such a unbelievably middle class thing. If he'd been a black kid in a council flat, rampaging through possessions wouldn't be charming, it would be be evidence of feral behaviour.
  3. How does this fit with caring about the environment? Are we supposed to think it's fine if our kids trash our things because we can just buy new ones? Awful.

TLDR: it's shit.