The John Lewis advert for home insurance

[DartmoorChef]

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

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

[NiceGerbil]

And yes another thing as others have pointed out.

Is that if a boy or girl who was not GNC was shown doing this it would not work. In ones where there's an out of control boy or girl who are dressed in clothing that is seen as usual for their sex.

From what I've seen and remember-

It's stuff like. Parents tearing hair out. Trying to grab them. Looking at wits end.

And from what I can remember seen it on ads for cleaning fluid. Hoover's/ floor cleaning things. Snazzy candles for relaxing bath. Booze maybe?

The dynamic here. Boy in skirt behaving like that. Mum and sister come across as learnt not to show reaction. I mean wtf?

[DontGiveAFlyingFig]

It's a crap advert, I saw it with my teenagers and we were all

Mainly as the kid was wilfully damaging stuff and the mother said nothing.

Not sure what point they were trying to get across as I doubt any of his actions would be covered by insurance.

[GellerYeller]

I didn't need to wait to see the words 'John Lewis' at the end, that house was sooo JL I half expected to find they'd released the Christmas advert early...
And I know this is totally the wrong thing to moan about but why soundtrack it with Edge of Seventeen? I love Stevie Nicks. Couldn't they have used BTS?

[NiceGerbil]

Just thought.

With ads esp for larger companies. I thought it was a long process. Loads of stages and people. And I'm sure a group of target people see it and give feedback?

I mean these things cost vast amounts of money. You want to make sure it hits the right spot for your customers/ potential customers. And very very important not to contain anything that might be even slightly off-putting/ damage brand/ not resonate with your market etc.

I'm wondering if somehow the usual process wasn't followed. Or those involved including customer panel were from a different audience?

[sst1234]

@EishetChayil

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

So true.

[SpindleWharl]

And I know this is totally the wrong thing to moan about but why soundtrack it with Edge of Seventeen? I love Stevie Nicks. Couldn't they have used BTS?

They could have gone with a classic Nicks song:

Well, maybe, I'm just thinking
That the rooms are all on fire
Every time that you walk in the room

Surprised the crappy ad team didn't use it actually. Maybe it just had too much of that women's perspective thing going on there in the lyrics?

[NiceGerbil]

I don't know that/ those songs but made me think what I would have chosen that suits it.

I'd say more like-

Anarchy in the UK - sex pistols
Firestarter- prodigy
Killing in the name- rage against the machine

That sort of thing would suit really well.

[Gingernaut]

I've complained to ASA because it's misleading.

The insurance covers accidental damage, not vandalism and the ad does not make that clear.

[NandJ]

John Lewis, Waitrose. Both added to the boycott list.

Is there a single high street shop out there that's safe for women to buy from?

[GothicaAutistica]

Should we all officially complain about it en masse? They'll find it harder to ignore us then.

It's misleading, since wilful damage won't be covered. It also seems to glorify domestic violence with regards to swinging and throwing the umbrella near his sister.

Those who have submitted complaints, will you please give us the email address/website that you complained to? Thanks in advance.

[UnaOfStormhold]

It makes me want to head down to my local JL store with my 7 year old, lots of paint, glitter and sweets and see what happens. Fortunately he's not wilfully destructive so nothing like the ad but I bet JL would still not be happy!

[KittenKong]

I have 4 words for you:

Sunny Delight
Bens Cookies

[AliceWo]

Eddie Izzard approvingly tweeted about it 'Maybe the 21st century has arrived!'. No surprises there.

[Rannva]

How 2021 of John Lewis to claim that witnessing male violence in the home is a perfectly normal, delightful state of affairs. 'Creativity' my arse.

Little shites like that kid turn into violent teenagers who turn into violent men. And I was once sent to a childminder ruled by a violent teenager who abused the kids in her care. I don't know what they're thinking putting an ad like this out that shows this as 'nice' behaviour, other than spreading the message that children with some kind of label are so 'different' they get to follow different rules and expectations, which is frankly insulting to those communities.

[MsTSwift]

Where’s Jo Frost when you need her? What an insufferable brat. Extremely odd response from the other family members too. Don’t know anyone that would sit there like a lemon while their 9 year old trashed their beautiful house

[Bells3032]

I am 100% for trans rights and representation in the media but this was just wtf?? This child is way too old to be causing this kind of destruction. He's old enough to know right from wrong and most of this would not need to be covered by insurance anyway and would need a good deep clean. What would need replacing would mot be covered by insurance.

And the Shame is if they wanted to show a kid cross dressing they could have done a beautiful advert with a kid playing dress up in his mums clothes and then breaking a necklace or accidently knocking over a lamp etc eg something that would be covered by insurance. Then hiding cos he felt guilty and mum finding him and telling him not to worry. With something like a tag line of "allow them to express themselves without fear".

Whoever came up with this should be fired

[minionsrule]

@Gingernaut

I've complained to ASA because it's misleading.

The insurance covers accidental damage, not vandalism and the ad does not make that clear.

Being an ex I looked up the cover and AD is defined in their literature as 'damage or loss of function caused by a sudden unforeseen and UNINTENTIONAL event.
And whilst damage caused by children is covered the unintentional bit above means the advert is misleading.
The rest of it, eg wearing a dress, people watching on indulgently, meh can't get worked ip about that

[minionsrule]

Meant to say 'ex underwriter'

[WineAway]

What the hell though has ‘allow them to express themselves without fear’ got to do with insurance.

It’s nonsense woke washing.

[notacooldad]

The advert came on last night when DH was finishing off some work on his lap top. I had to stop him and was saying watch this, what do you think. I didn't mention what in particular I wanted him to comment on but the only thing he observed was the lad trashing the place and nobody giving a shit. I don't get the point of it. It's not amusing, it's not even slightly realistic , it's not even valid because no insurance company I can think of would pay out.
What's the point in having a nice JL styled house and letting your kid smash your favourite displays up?
Stupid.

[Inertia]

Spectacularly misjudged from JL, looks like they’ve tried to jump on the genderID bandwagon and got it badly wrong. I have made a complaint to the ASA.

They’re on a very sticky wicket in terms of misrepresentation. The implication is that deliberate, wilful destruction is covered under their policies, but they have clarified that only accidental damage is covered.

I have a serious issue with the depiction of males being free to destroy property belonging to and work created by others, and to intimidate females with impunity, while the females appear to be mute and powerless to act.

[mustlovegin]

Another day, another company's marketing budget being hijacked by the woke advertising mob.

It's unlikely the JL Partership know what's going on, as the management of their social media accounts seems to have been outsourced and co-opted too. It may be an idea to try and complain using different channels to Facebook, Twitter, etc

I wonder who they will blame when their insurance revenue suddenly starts to drop...

[user1471447863]

Well that's another company to boycott now.
Not only was the advert misleading and the biggest pile of Uber woke trans wankery ever, it was also pretty shite.
The trans agenda seems to be be getting pushed at every turn now. This wasn't even the nice quiet getting on with your life trans this was the look at me how special trans I am. me me me

[Hugoslavia]

I really thought that I was going to dislike it as I don't like anything that is supposedly 'right on'. But all I thought was what a fantastic dancer that little boy was and it was shot really well, even if it did stereotype boys rather as being really messy, albeit whilst not conforming to other stereotypes.

[Hugoslavia]

Also, so many people here offended by it being misleading in terms of insurance coverage. It makes me wonder whether they are really that bothered by that issue, or have first been ruled by a boy wearing makeup in a dress.