To dislike to John Lewis Christmas ad?

[Peashoots]

I get the message behind it but I hated it. Not at all Christmassy, hated the song, hated the aesthetic, just don’t know what they were thinking?

Bloody love it ❤️

I love the Asda one, it is so nostalgic.

Oh is that what that ad is about. I’ve watched half of it twice now and had no idea what I watching (so changed channels). I did wonder where I’d seen the bloke before though as he looks familiar.

Don’t be daft.

He’s very aware of how lost this child will be feeling, so he’s trying to create some familiarity and common ground. Obviously, he looks ridiculous and in a real life situation she would probably laugh at him, but this in itself breaks the ice. It’s an effort to make her feel comfortable and part of the family. Not about him at all.

(Though I agree with @Madwife123 up thread that it’s highly unlikely in real life that they’d have the time!)

I work with looked after children, and didn’t realise it was about a foster family before I watched it. Safe to say, I cried my eyes out.

I think it’s beautiful. Sure, not every foster family make the effort of learning a new skill to bond/connect with a young person..but the sentiment is lovely and shows the importance of meaningful activity & connection. I also think it highlights and gives a platform to appreciate our foster carers and remember just how many children are in the care system this Christmas. It puts things into perspective for a lot of people hopefully.

I hope the advert brings further attention to the care system and highlights not just the great work foster carers do, but also the absolute shambles of systems set up for our most vulnerable children. Ellie (in the advert) is lucky to be placed with a loving foster family, as maybe in a few years she’ll be placed in a bedsit/hostel on her own for Christmas.

I disagree .
It's not daft it's absolutely bloody typical!

You can create a bond but still respect it's her " thing" by taking her down the skate park etc

I saw it for the first time yesterday and to me it was reaching. They are now trying too hard to make their Christmas ad stand out. It's a tick boxing exercise.

Bring back the Asda man. It’s the pocket tap, pocket tap, pocket tap of our times

I think you mean box ticking. Boxing ticks is something entirely different ...

OMG I think it’s beautiful, well done John Lewis for thinking outside of the box and focusing on the disadvantaged.

I like the message behind it, but it didn’t feel very Christmassy.

The Asda one on the other hand is genius.

I think you mean box ticking. Boxing ticks is something entirely different ...
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Yes that's what I meant. 😁

Waitrose did that a few years ago. Well they still had an ad of sorts, but it was Heston Blumenthal and Delia Smith standing in an empty warehouse type place explaining that Waitrose were donating to charity instead, and the two of them appeared free of charge. The general response seemed to be that they weren’t actually making the donation and it was just a cheap and lazy way to make themselves look good. I remember saying I thought it was a good idea and a friend said I was naïve if I believed it. So I don’t think the big companies can win really.

I love it. I think the song choice is great because it's totally not how you'd expect all the small things to sound which sort of shows how out of his comfort zone the Foster dad is. But he's 'trying' it's a great message that kids don't need lots of things, just time and effort. Love it's simplicity. Mind you, I don't need a lot of theatrics to feel Christmassy, shot of fairy lights does it for me everytime 🤣

I'm very fed up with twee stories about fairies and penguins and snowmen and aliens or whatever - I'm delighted they took a different approach. It's funny and well acted and the whole point of the Christmas story is taking in people who need shelter at a time when they're vulnerable so I don't really see how it's not Christmassy. Maybe it's doesn't matter to some people if where they buy their presents and decorations is ethical or not (no judgement implied; everyone has different priorities), but for those who care about that kind of thing it's encouraging. I love seeing a teenager as the point of the story, and I love that the Christmas preparations are building up to her arrival and not a massive blow-out feast with all the family when so many people don't have a big family. With everything else that's going on at the moment I like that it's a little bit more serious and less self-indulgent.

I thought it was sweet, like the Amazon ones from last year..

I prefer these over the overly Christmassy ones that seem to try-hard and unrealistic.

Usual cynicalasfuck shite, upon watching.

Exactly this. Well said!!!

Not a fan. I think it comes across as twee and doesn’t highlight what being in foster care is actually like for a lot of kids (while there are good fc’s out there a skateboarding dad and foster parents who actually gave a shit certainly wasn’t my experience or the experience of anyone else I know who went through the care system either 🤷‍♀️).

I was reading the comments under the ad on YouTube and lots of people who'd been in care as kids seemed very positive about it and appreciated it being highlighted. It's a very Christmassy tradition to think of those with less. I really liked it

I hadn't read your post chocolate when I posted. I guess people who grew up in care will have different opinions on it

Not a fan. Good for putting across the message and raising awareness about this issue, but as an advertisement for essentially dept. store, no. Too virtuous, and twee unrealistic picture of fostering.

I wouldn't have recognised it as the Christmas advert for John Lewis if I hadn't been told. I'd have expected details of how to find further information and a donation hotline at the end. That was all that was missing .

Yes agree, a few people I know disliked this.

I do think it would have a different impact if you had a very different experience of the care system, and I fully respect that, but also it's a Christmas ad. You are going to get an idealised version of whatever the subject is; it's not an ad for a charity that's designed to give you a realistic and therefore gloomy perspective. People don't think much about children in care and they certainly don't worry much about teenagers in care, so even though this is a cosy, perfect fostering situation, it's still a nudge to our awareness of the issue.

Whether or not people LIKE the advert, I'm baffled as to how it's not Christmassy.

I suppose Charles Dickens wasn't Christmassy either in their book if that's the case, or the Nativity, with all those virtue signalling wise men giving gifts to the poor child.