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

[Purplefoo]

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……

Not sure anyone at all has missed the point….

God I miss when Christmas adverts were just simple, festive and fun - not a bunch of amateur film makers trying to make something ✨deep and moving✨, pretentious nonsense. Give me reindeers and chocolates and nana falling asleep by the fire any day over this wank.

Christmas adverts definitely did not need or deserve the gritty reboot they got.

It’s perfectly captured the deflating bit of Xmas day - when the excitement is gone and you feel a bit flat

I just found it sad! Like the first poster said, I thought the son had died and the dad was remembering his childhood and had hallucinated that he was standing on the stairs watching him!

No, I get the point. It was very obvious from watching the ad.

Why do people assume that if someone doesn't like something, it is just because it's gone over their head? Such a condescending assumption to make. It's a TV ad, not Samuel Beckett fgs.

🔊 PSA: I UNDERSTAND THE AD. I STILL DO NOT LIKE IT

Hope that's a bit clearer 😃

Well, if you find it ‘menacing’, the suggestion is that you have.

i like this idea. That would have been better.

I do like the concept of teen and dad reconnecting but think it’s been quite badly executed. It does feel sinister at the start with the shifty looks at the dad like they are waiting on him exploding on rage. It would have been better if there was a bit at the start showing bad communication with the son (even the dad asking him something and being ignored by teen with headphones) then the music and scenes at PP described.

I thi k it could have been much better. It’s taken from the whole Oasis revival thing and reliving youths that lots of people did this year with that / feeling nostalgic for the past. Plus teen and parent connection.

I get the sentiment, the “message,” but I’m not a fan.
I like my Christmas adverts to be Christmassey.

This is the thing. Ad agencies and brands go so far up their arse in creating ‘meaning’ it becomes unjoyful. Xmas is a small sliver of joy in a stressful world!

I agree. Christmas for me isn't about just presents and fun. It is about reflection, remembering Christmases past and valuing those closest to us. It is good to have Christmas ads that make you think; not just jolly sickly ones.

And you seek that meaning and reflection in a television advert made by a shop who want nothing from you but your money?

Well it made me blub. It could be my house and my family, the teenage boy looks just like my son complete with permanently attached headphones.

As an ex clubber having sometimes tricky times with teenagers, I completely identified with it. And yes it’ll make me shop there more than if it’d been their typical schmaltzy ad.

I normally hate Christmas ads and am not usually sentimental, but this one got me!

I thought it was a thoughtful understanding of the way teens and parents often disconnect and this was a way for them to remember that they do love each other after all. Christmas sometimes sees a spike in arguments - no it’s not Christmassy but it IS poignant.

Agree! Thinking back to the best/stand out JL Christmas adverts I think of the little boy so excited to give his parents their present, and the dog on the trampoline. Both had a cute story and message but still felt very festive. But now they just don’t feel Christmassey at all!

That's fine, but I question if we should be seeking validation and significance from ads put out by a large company whose ultimate goal is to get you to buy more stuff, (more than you really want to).

I dislike Christmas. It’s not a ‘small sliver of joy’ for me and many others. I like seeing an ad that isn’t heaps of family, tables groaning with the ‘feast’, drunk dancing round the kitchen.

This ad speaks to my Christmas.

No, I didn't need to. It is how I feel about Christmas every year.

I love Christmas so that doesn't happen to me until 2nd Jan 😁

I don’t understand why the dad is opening a present on his own? Surely that’s a thing you all do in the room together.

It’s a missed present, lost under the tree. The son thinks it’s been ignored but doesn’t have the gumption / relationship with his dad to point it out. Or he’s mardy about it being ‘forgotten’.

I saw a different John Lewis Christmas advert so had no idea what you were all talking about - the 1975 couple dancing to Angel on my Tree with the Polaroid photos, the random fox in the graveyard and then the ghost. Now that was quite depressing.

Horrible
It's the son seems to be treading on eggshells around his Dad who has a face like thunder.
Awful

They’re tidying up and that one was accidentally left under the tree, is how I took it. And the teenage son didn’t say anything because he’s on mute.

Right. I thought that the dad was dead hence mum son and sister looking sad and the dad's present still being under the tree and wrapped at the end of the day. And dad's weird rave/heaven flashback. But appreciate that might be my own 'dead parent baggage' lol

That's not the advert
It's a songwriter making his own