John Lewis Ad

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Erm.

Different.

No breathy singing and tear jerker this year.

Anyone else seen it?

As a huge fan of Little Shop of Horrors I thought it was hilarious.
Doesn't make me have any desire to shop at John Lewis though. My nearest one is Oxford Street which is a claustrophobic nightmare to shop in.
The only products that caught my eye were some headphones and a Lego set.
I can get those in B+M.

John Lewis crying malaise is real! I don't cry at anything IRL, but they always get me, even the ones I hated.

I really liked the venus fly trap ad (but I also LOVED last year's foster kid skateboarder one). It's a metaphor for the realities of christmas. Most real families don't gather round roaring fires while their kids run past their own presents to give one to you - they have eight year old boys who like toys with teeth! plans that don't go to plan, relatives that make things hard, disagreement about what to do. Christmas is about compromise so that everyone in the family feels loved and has a place. You see the pressures to create the perfect christmas (and resulting burn out) all over this forum - this ad is saying sod that, just roll with it all and have fun. And I loved the music. The lyrics are "life is a party" which - yes! Christmas is a party, we shouldn't be so uptight about it.

Incidentally, I hate the gifts you can't wait to give one, makes me really sad. That poor little boy missing out on all the fun lead up to christmas, sad for a whole month, not playing with his sister or enjoying his nativity, all because he wants to give his parents a john lewis gift. What have they done to make that child so desperate to please them!

I liked it! No breathy singing shite cover version, no competitive sob fest trying to pull at your heart strings the most. Same with M&S, which I didn't see as shitting all over Christmas. More you can like some bits, hate others and that's fine, you don't have to do it all. But then I am someone who can't stand that fucking elf (who shall never darken my door).

I do wonder if Dame Sharon White's objective is to run JL into the ground. It's been very odd since she took over.

I really like it too!

It’s interesting that both M&S and John Lewis have gone for the “screw tradition, do your own thing” angle this year.

I wonder if that ignoring tradition is also why Lidl decided to put a raccoon in their ad. 😂

Nothing says Christmas like a festive raccoon!

I had noticed that too about M&S and John Lewis. I guess the angle is that there is a cost of living crisis so Christmas dosn't need to be perfect, just do it your way (whilst the people in their adverts have perfectly coifed hair and make up).

The M&S one is horrible though, it just says "fuck your family and your kids, do only what YOU want". The man throwing away the board game his friends were playing because HE doesn't like it, the woman taking a gold club to her children's elf on the shelf. What the fuck?

But the John Lewis one is the exact opposite message: don't worry about tradition for tradition's sake, do what is right for your family, even if it's not exactly what you had in mind.

I love it.

can't wait for the MRA conspiracy theory online froth-fest about how it's a VENUS flytrap that has EATEN THE MALE ROLE MODELS with its Christmassy VAGINA DENTATA etc etc etc

OK, so I've been sitting in the car for half an hour (driving, not just sitting lol) and pondering the fact that it's a matriarchal family, and now I can't help thinking that the plant is a metaphor for the missing abusive father, who the boy misses because he's too young to have understood the dynamic.

But I could be overthinking it.

Haha - cross post mainlyontheplain!

Ha! Yes, and the boy child has brought the danger of all-consuming masculinity back into the house with the Seed, but through his love and care, he converts the aggressive force of testosterone into a benign present-unwrapping/recycling nurturing entity. That lives outside, thank you.

Morrisons wins this year for me.

I will also admit to being firmly in the JLCAC camp, and did get a little misty eyed when the plant was banished outside - my caveat being that I've just got up after a night shift.

I want a tree like that one

Just seen the display in Waitrose. What a load of landfill 😞.

@rcat74 I just looked at the website of the merch. Why "landfill"? It all looks recyclable in one way or another.
Don't like it though....it doesn't look anything like the plant in the ad.

John Lewis ad is dreadful
But the Amazon one (sorry not a fan of the company really! ) is touching and memorable as it features a Beatles song and 3 'older' ladies. Maybe I like it is because I am 'older' too.

Why is it always little boys in these ads?? Just once I'd like to see Christmas in these ads through the eyes of a little girl.

Wasn’t there a girl in the last John Lewis one?

Absolutely! I've just looked back. In the last 12 years men or boys or an obviously male animal/snowman have been the lead in 9 ads. That's not counting the bear or hare.
Girls have led 2. Plus the alien was a girl.

It's disgraceful.

List is here www.johnlewis.com/content/gifts/every-john-lewis-christmas-advert-ever-aired

It was a girl in 2015 and 2019.

Wasn’t there a girl in the last John Lewis one?

Blinked and we'd have missed her.

Wondering if the useless, destructive plant is supposed to be a metaphor for the absent father who then Disney Dads it by doing the bare minimum on Christmas Day but expects them to come out to him and presenting gifts bought by ex partner as his own. I like to read too much into these things!

Did anyone else think it was Matt Berry singing at first? 😂