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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:
HumourReplacementTherapy · 26/10/2021 13:34

@HumourReplacementTherapy

Can everyone with a child from toddler to pre teen yrs take them on a rampage round the JL crockery & glassware department to do some purposeful 'accidental' damage? GrinGrinGrin After all "life happens" and "they're insured "
Oops! I see @KittenKong had the same idea.
KittenKong · 26/10/2021 13:36

I should have taken my almost blind sister in and left her on the Chrystal department, then run wait with her white stick. ‘Life happens’ 🤷‍♀️

Heruka · 26/10/2021 13:40

I am GC as they come but I have to say this ad doesn’t bother me at all, I think it’s funny. I saw Posie P talking about it being problematic due to the times we are living in, and 5 or 6 years ago it would have been fine, which I think is a fair point, and I get that the boy is a brat, but I think it’s quite good fun. I don’t watch tv much and have only seen it once so maybe it grates more if you watch it often.

roofingexpert · 26/10/2021 13:51

Can't imagine who was in the research groups for that. Bizarre the mother just watching impassively.

KittenKong · 26/10/2021 14:24

I’ve been on research panels for things like ads. We always ‘let them have it’ - maybe the agency didn’t want to hear, or just got in a load of trendy 20 somethings (no kids, no homes!)

Xenia · 26/10/2021 14:43

Perhaps the panel found people hated the ad of the ciminal demon child so much they knew it would gather lots of publicity for JL then? Or perhaps the follow up on 31 October is a rerun of it for Hallowe'en showing the child as satan infested with devils and evil or something.

thepastisanothercountry · 26/10/2021 14:52

Nothing accidental about that. How can the mother just sit there and watch... I felt angry just watching it to be honest.. I wonder if she said afterwards "just wait until your father gets home".

Seems both wrong and potentially misleading - I can't imagine that if one of us were to take out home insurance and then just sit there smiling sweetly while our child indulged in a ruinous rampage round the house that there wouldn't be questions from the assessors.

notacooldad · 26/10/2021 14:54

Perhaps the panel found people hated the ad of the ciminal demon child so much they knew it would gather lots of publicity for JL then
I get the adage about all publicity is good publicity but are more people actually buying JL home insurance. That would be the proof of the pudding.

MrsToothyBitch · 26/10/2021 15:58

Other than a couple of accidental, inconsequential bumps & knocks, I saw a brat who was old enough to know better doing lots of intentional damage and purposely disrupting another child and wrecking her activity. Interested to see which HI provider covers that. Also as someone currently doing up my first home, I didn't see the funny side of such damage. I would have been in deep shit for that as a kid and would be furious if my child did it.

There were plenty of ways they could've shown an exuberant child causing accidental damage- even accidental fabulous damage, without the child in question appearing to be the demonic offspring of Ru Paul and Horrid Henry. Kids getting into a make up drawer, a little boy causing damage whilst in mum's clothes because the shoes are too big, tripping over a long skirt or scarf etc, kids making a potion in the sink a la George's marvellous medicine, kids playing in the garden & the windows getting it etc.

KittenKong · 27/10/2021 15:23

And I still say - the kid wasn’t unaware of the unintentional consequences’! He was a horrid little bully and his mum was useless.

The John Lewis advert for home insurance
ShrinkingViolet9 · 27/10/2021 16:52

Withdrawn. Good.

SirensofTitan · 27/10/2021 17:06

@ShrinkingViolet9

Withdrawn. Good.
Oh to be a fly on the wall during the no doubt paniced discussion on this one.
KittenKong · 27/10/2021 17:10

Someone will get the sack - probably some poor junior who did what they were told.

MarshaBradyo · 27/10/2021 17:15

Good!

MarshaBradyo · 27/10/2021 17:15

It’s withdrawn that is

ShrinkingViolet9 · 27/10/2021 17:57

www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/john-lewis-forced-pull-controversial-insurance-ad/1731618

John Lewis forced to pull controversial insurance ad
The creative was criticised for sexualising a child, but that's not why it was withdrawn.

------

www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/john-lewis-tv-advert-featuring-25314010

John Lewis TV advert featuring boy in dress banned for being 'potentially misleading'

The ‘Let It Happen’ advert has now been withdrawn over concerns it ‘could cause customers to be confused’ about John Lewis insurance

ShrinkingViolet9 · 27/10/2021 18:00

From Campaign report:

"It has received more than 380 complaints and counting, according to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)."

-----

John Lewis on Twitter:

twitter.com/johnlewisretail/status/1453345847194918913

Claudethecat · 27/10/2021 18:03

I feel a bit sorry for the young actor caught up in this.

ShrinkingViolet9 · 27/10/2021 18:09

@KittenKong

Someone will get the sack - probably some poor junior who did what they were told.
Advertising agencies don't work like that.
mustlovegin · 27/10/2021 18:10

maybe the agency didn’t want to hear, or just got in a load of trendy 20 somethings

Businesses themselves need to vet who is put on these panels to ensure they proportionally represent their customer demographic. It doesn't seem to be happening with any ads at the moment

mustlovegin · 27/10/2021 18:11

Someone will get the sack

They need to change agencies

KittenKong · 27/10/2021 18:14

ShrinkingViolet9 - my sister worked in agencies and yes, some do work like that! I was thinking it would be more the executive in the marketing department who would get canned.

ShrinkingViolet9 · 27/10/2021 18:35

@KittenKong

ShrinkingViolet9 - my sister worked in agencies and yes, some do work like that! I was thinking it would be more the executive in the marketing department who would get canned.
What I meant was - the ad was withdrawn because it did not meet FCA standards for financial services. The agency works to a brief. John Lewis controls the message. JL's marketing department should have recognised it was potentially misleading.
KittenKong · 27/10/2021 18:45

Agency should have know though - when I take briefs for jobs it’s up to me to say ‘whoa there!’ when the client wants something bananas.

MarshaBradyo · 27/10/2021 18:48

It’s quite easy for an agency to get carried away and client swept up in it

They can be quite hierarchical so you get one person at top who wants to push it