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……

No, but I spend a lot of time on twitter for work and if you click on the trending item it brings a load of positive osts up and I have only seen wildy positive posts, so you get a feel for it enough for me to say "it SEEMSv to be going down well on twitter", which is what I said. Some people on there will have hated it too, no doubt, like on here, but when an advertiser is analysing success metrics, they dont care about individual responses.

I do think a PP is right though. It exposes a "there are 2 kinds of people" thing around Christmas and Christmas advertising. So in that sense they've cut off half their market. But then so have M&S with their truly shit - fake snow everyone is happy and jolly at Christmas as long as you've got M&S food - effort.

Horse for courses as they say.

Did it? I didn’t think so. She wanted to scoff all the food herself (nasty, greedy, selfish fat woman undertone). Stops caring about going home as long as she can climb high enough to get a big plate of snacks to herself. I think choosing a present for your dad and really caring if he likes it and then hurray! He does is much more in the spirit.

My reality makes me feel better than fake fairies and Dawn French. I mean, it wasn’t showing war. Just a quiet family Christmas.

It’s not a portrayal of a tense and unjolly Christmas to me. It’s quiet, but it’s about choosing the right present (rather than rushing out for the first thing the ads suggest).

But, how many people who watched the M&S ad thought there was a dead person in it? None. And a cursory glance at the telly, and you see Christmas food, music, sparkle, warm lighting. It reads like a Christmas advert. It's not my favourite but nobody is thinking child line/ suicidal Dad/ dead kid/

I didnt think there was a dead person in either of them 🤷‍♀️

The brand tracking will measure people's associations with the ad and how that ladders back to the master brand perceptions.

I expect they were going for heartfelt, emotional, touching, etc, etc. Which they will get from some people. But the fact that others are saying 'like a Christmas drink driving ad' and 'iseedeadpeople' is not the response they'll have wanted - for very obvious reasons. The relative percentages of that we wouldn't be able to estimate now, but it's clearly not just a few cranks.

Yes, neither did I. But given the responses on the thread, you can see that some people did though. Right?

I think it signalled foreboding with the lack of music or warm background noise and the tense looks at the beginning. The fading in and out device added to that feel. I can see how other people walked away from it feeling like something bad would happen.

I loved it, I'm the same generation as the dad so totally got the vibe.

The Elton John one is still my favourite though.

It's not too bad an idea, but the execution is terrible IMO.

I thought the same thing when it came on during the Bake Off final last night and my DS thought the same, we were both on tenterhooks expecting it to be really sad. It’s quite a nice ad though nevertheless although my DD said “he’s just sad his kids stopped him from clubbing” 😅.’

That’s how I see it too.
Dad is briefly transported back to his clubbing days, but when he sees his son, the dancers around him disappear and he all he sees is his child.

Yes, I saw lots of positive comments on X.
The ad with Dawn French on the other hand is really annoying.

I didn't say you said that. Quite the contrary, you were the one telling me I wasn't seeing unhappy facial expressions. The not talking/not smiling marker was to illustrate what I was seeing - which was not happiness. That was picked up by another poster who decided I must think normal families go round with fixed grins on all the time (which was a frankly stupid remark based on nothing I said). I told her I had used those words to counter your claim that I couldn't be seeing a portrait of unhappiness, not because I believe people in functional families go around with grins on their faces all day. You chose to cut in on an exchange I was having with another poster without understanding it. Probably best that you are out.

I loved it, it made me cry.

I'm in a third category of advertising viewer - I'm not a fan of too much Christmas schmaltz, but I find that attempts at 'emotionally deep' advertising often end up feeling unpleasantly manipulative.
Actually, my favourite ads from the past year or so have been the one with the roller-skating tortoise for some train line, and the one with the walrus in the speedboat, so not sure what that says about me!

And a cursory glance at the telly, and you see Christmas food, music, sparkle, warm lighting.

Yes @Upstartled - and they all look the same! As well as measuring impact, agencies track stand-out. When everything in Christmas is festooned with sparkle and glitter, although it may look lovely, it all melds into one.

So this ad has achieved both impact and stand out, by being different.

I find that attempts at 'emotionally deep' advertising often end up feeling unpleasantly manipulative.

I agree with this, especially when you remember that the point of the manipulation is to persuade you to buy their stuff. It smack of corporate image "washing."

Having said that, the Cadbury ad with the young woman and her dad who had Alzheimer's is a great example of the type of "deep" advertising that can work. It's quietly sad, moving, but ultimately makes you smile. 2 people who have lost a connection connecting over a chocolate bar with nostalgic memories for them both. It won't make me go and buy that chocolate, but its meaning still resonates in a good way.

Well, time will tell if this ISeeDeadPeople has the kind of impact that generates revenue or is as appealling as a bucket of cold sick.

I’d also like to remind posters that advertising isn’t just about sales - it’s also about brand image.

And now @Upstartled I think your posts are becoming rather deliberately inflammatory. So like others, I’m out.

Good luck to Saatchi &Saatchi!

🤣 Well, fine.

I'm not sure this is a brand image you'd hang your hat on. It has bamboozled plenty of posters, some with the content and others with the tone.

Its half term losses are really high, almost three times as high as last year. If this advert can pull that around I'll be happy to say I was wrong.

I think the thing is that the JL Christmas advert has now become an event - people actually go out of their way to watch it which is almost unheard of these days for advertising, and they can't keep doing variations on the same theme because it'd no longer be a talking point if they did. We can argue round and round in circles about whether it hit the mark this year or not, but doing something distinctive is their MO.

I think that's why I like it too. Music was a big thing between me and my dad and it's music that keeps him alive to me when I listen to those tunes he always had playing. He liked early 90s dance so this genre in the ad really makes me think of it. Music also bonds me and my children, through listening to music together and going to gigs. They bought me a vinyl of my favourite album last year.

I’m just disappointed at the lack of diversity. It would have been lovely to have a Black family centre stage. Or someone with a disability.

https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/lifestyle/i-stopped-getting-off-my-tits-on-e-because-you-were-born-and-i-resent-it-say-dads-inspired-by-john-lewis-advert-20251105261725?brid=IDR5mq9e_-4dpmPs8ALXlA