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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

872 replies

Purplefoo · 04/11/2025 09:13

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……

OP posts:
Thread gallery
19
BoxesBoxesEverywhere · 07/11/2025 02:36

Purplefoo · 07/11/2025 00:29

No-one thinks it’s hard to understand. They think it’s depressing and shit

Those who are seeing dead people seem to be finding it hard to understand though...

Aethelredtheunsteady · 07/11/2025 04:03

BoxesBoxesEverywhere · 07/11/2025 02:36

Those who are seeing dead people seem to be finding it hard to understand though...

I don’t think anyone has said that after watching the advert in its entirety that they thought somebody was dead? Just that the vibes they got made them think there was going to be some sort of reveal that one of the characters had died. Seeing as John Lewis touched on the death of a parent in last year’s advert it’s not a completely ridiculous assumption.

MinnieBaldock · 07/11/2025 06:21

To be honest I think it's only on here That the ad is being talked about. Don't think anyone really cares about the message
, they either like or don't like the ad and move on
. Unlike on here where it's spoilt a lot of people's Christmas and its racist (because everyone is white, which to be honest it's usually a mixed race family),
I'm sure not many people are going to shop at JL as it is quite expensive compared to everywhere else. Especially Waitrose unless your a millionaire or just like to boast.
It's just a silly Christmas ad and will be forgotten on here soon. Unless questions are asked in the houses of parliament because on here the John Lewis Christmas Ad is so important.

TorroFerney · 07/11/2025 07:24

BrieHugger · 04/11/2025 17:51

Or that the wife’s an absolute harridan who constantly nags at everyone to tidy up, even on Christmas Day.

Maybe the kids are terrified she’ll start throwing baubles at them if they don’t do what she says. Maybe that’s why the dad looks unhappy. The evil bitch.

Well that’s the theme of the childline advert, the terrified child, afraid to put a foot wrong. That one really upsets me. I hate watching tv in the run up to Christmas, I’m on edge constantly during the ad breaks.

XelaM · 07/11/2025 09:21

Wow I just watched the John Lewis Edgar the Excitable Dragon 🐉 Christmas advert of a few years ago and it has to be their best of all time!! It made me sob so much 😭😭😭

Disturbia81 · 07/11/2025 09:23

Purplefoo · 07/11/2025 00:29

No-one thinks it’s hard to understand. They think it’s depressing and shit

But it’s the opposite of depressing. It’s really heartwarming and sweet.

IdentifyingAsAWoollyMammoth · 07/11/2025 09:29

Unlike on here where it's spoilt a lot of people's Christmas and its racist (because everyone is white, which to be honest it's usually a mixed race family)

Except, Minnie, it's being widely being championed by far right racist bigots on social media for demonstrating that "John Lewis have at last got the message" and that "finally they're showing a normal family without blacks, mixed raced or homosexuals" and "John Lewis has changed their advertising this year because they've learned that you go broke being woke".

Which isn't even true. Last year, it was white sisters. The year before that it was a white family (mostly kids). The year before that it was a white couple (mostly the dad, learning how to skateboard to have a better relationship with his also white foster child; the briefly seen social worker was black).

mrlistersgelfbride · 07/11/2025 09:30

It’s a little unnerving at first but I liked it!
Definitely a grower and a powerful message.

The relationship between the dad and son reminded me a bit of my brother and dad years ago.
Christmas isn’t all mistletoe and parties for everyone, my family used to have arguments a lot at Christmas and thinking about past ones can be bittersweet.
I admire them for doing something different…off to watch it again!

Debswheeler1 · 07/11/2025 16:14

Feel sorry for teenage boys who for various reasons have no father my sons father died when he was 14
I definitely prefer joyous ads tbh

Zov · 07/11/2025 16:22

IdentifyingAsAWoollyMammoth · 06/11/2025 18:15

I find it a very cold advert, despite the lack of snow. Take away the tree (which you don't see for long) and it could be the dad's birthday. Doesn't give me any Christmassy feels at all. Their 2022 one where the dad tried to learn to skateboard to have a connection with foster child did the same message better.

Also, unlike M&S, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Asda, John Lewis don't use the word Christmas once. Not even displayed anywhere or in text at the end with their logo. I find that odd. To be fair, nor does Amazon, whose advert of sledging grannies, is recycled from last year, but that does give me warm feels.

Yep, this. They should hang their head in shame, not using the word CHRISTMAS. It's Christmas, CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS! Use the word for goodness sake! Hmm

And the ad is a pile of shite. I can't believe some people claim to actually like it. Some serious Emperor's New Clothes shit going on here.

.

IdentifyingAsAWoollyMammoth · 07/11/2025 16:24

Zov weirdly, I also used the Emperor's New Clothes analogy when discussing it with friends earlier.

Zov · 07/11/2025 16:25

viking11 · 07/11/2025 01:40

Job done by advertisers, it's provoked a reaction. Personally I thought it was clever .

It might have provoked a reaction. I would still never shop in John Lewis though. I don't know anyone who does. Overrated and overpriced, like Waitrose and Marks & Spencer.

Zov · 07/11/2025 16:25

IdentifyingAsAWoollyMammoth · 07/11/2025 16:24

Zov weirdly, I also used the Emperor's New Clothes analogy when discussing it with friends earlier.

It totally is isn't it?! I have seen a few people online saying as much too.

Zov · 07/11/2025 16:26

Disturbia81 · 07/11/2025 09:23

But it’s the opposite of depressing. It’s really heartwarming and sweet.

It's really not.

IdentifyingAsAWoollyMammoth · 07/11/2025 16:37

I've just seen the new Barbour Christmas advert with Wallace and Gromit. So much better. Christmas music, similar message of gifting, bright colours, fun. Much more like it.

LittleJustice · 07/11/2025 16:43

Acommonreader · 04/11/2025 10:28

Yes! I love it. As a parent of a boy I totally get the difficulty in connecting with a teen at times . I think the ad has captured this beautifully- the awkwardness ,the hidden emotions and the little boy inside who really wants that hug and to connect with his dad .

OMG this made me well up.

I am an ex raver with 3 boys, I loved the ad. Made me all teary.

OhBuggerandArse · 07/11/2025 17:04

IdentifyingAsAWoollyMammoth · 07/11/2025 16:37

I've just seen the new Barbour Christmas advert with Wallace and Gromit. So much better. Christmas music, similar message of gifting, bright colours, fun. Much more like it.

GIFT IS NOT A VERB!!! Straight to the guillotine with you and all the other mid-Atlantic corruptors of language (I mean that in the Christmassiest of ways, obvs).

IdentifyingAsAWoollyMammoth · 07/11/2025 17:10

OhBugger you might like to put a complaint in to the Oxford Dictionary people who say gifting is both a noun and an adjective.

The earliest known use of the word gifting is in the early 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for gifting is from 1619, in the writing of James Sempill, courtier and religious controversialist.

landlordhell · 07/11/2025 17:25

OhBuggerandArse · 07/11/2025 17:04

GIFT IS NOT A VERB!!! Straight to the guillotine with you and all the other mid-Atlantic corruptors of language (I mean that in the Christmassiest of ways, obvs).

Think it is. Think about the word present. You can present or you can receive a present.

OhBuggerandArse · 07/11/2025 17:27

Oh I'm sure that's true - but in the context of contemporary British English 'gifting' is an ABOMINATION (and just naff, really).

Redpeach · 07/11/2025 17:29

Debswheeler1 · 07/11/2025 16:14

Feel sorry for teenage boys who for various reasons have no father my sons father died when he was 14
I definitely prefer joyous ads tbh

Surely they all have parents in them

Disturbia81 · 07/11/2025 19:36

Zov · 07/11/2025 16:26

It's really not.

It really is to me.
See.. we all have different opinions.

NeedAnyHelpWithThatPaperBag · 07/11/2025 20:00

I thought it was quite affecting and made me tear up a little bit. Hey ho.

Sparky1978 · 07/11/2025 20:37

The best days not like now with what's going on in the world and over here in the UK

AquaForce · 07/11/2025 21:35

Of course we know what OP Bot's real problem is with the advert don't we.....