John Lewis Christmas Ad is here

[fishingtime]

And it’s lovely - I think anyway.

https://www.johnlewis.com/content/christmas-advert

It’s like a British Gas advert . Don’t think it evokes anything heart warming

Actually, this advert has made me reflect on my own Nan - she was notoriously bad at buying Christmas presents (usually giant pants or lurid crocheted hats from jumble sales)...

But I remember the hours we spent in her little Welsh valleys terrace while she taught us bingo and card games (she was a fierce cheat), or watching the wrestling on telly, or playing with her tin of old beads and buttons... Thin tinsel and rude balloons dancing in the warm air of the gas fire at Christmas...

Thanks for that memory, John Lewis!

I thought those tuk tuk things were going to be made illegal (in London anyway).
I am surprised John Lewis would be encouraging their customers to use something that's such a rip off and unregulated.
Are they actually going to be selling a talking Fisher Price dog?
Not the regular ones - a TALKING one.
Most disappointing if they don't 😂
This advert explains a link a friend sent me of a tree decoration that John Lewis are selling this year - it was the classic Fisher Price pull along phone.
I assume they've made a deal with Fisher Price this year.
Edit: actually the tree decoration was from Fortnum and Mason 😁
Maybe Christmas in general is sponsored by Fisher Price this year ......

It was introducing the montage of scenes in the shops. I don't know why the ad agency felt they needed to spell that out though!

It's a great concept - woman being taken on a walk by a magic talking dog to buy gifts for her grandchildren. The way it's been executed is truly awful, especially in a deepening cost of living crisis.

I thought JL prided themselves as being there for the nation through thick and thin? May as well have had lovely KST in a Marie Antoinette wig with the strapline 'Let them eat cake'

I adore Kristin Scott Thomas. I think she is the most ridiculously beautiful woman on earth and such a brilliant actress. She's the reason I don't hate this advert, but... it's not their best.

I am glad that they're not blatantly engaging in the annual competitive emotional gut punch of Christmas adverts though, just trying to make everyone cry. That was getting old.

Having said that, the best of all the Christmas adverts was the John Lewis one from 2014 with Monty the Penguin. And that DID make me cry! But it was so creative and sweet, and actually such a simple idea. I think TV advertising in general has gone downhill in the last few years.

(This is also the reason that Real Love by The Beatles has become a Christmas song to me!)

For the last few years, their adverts have been a let down. This one is pretty dire.
I love Sam Fender, but I don't like that song.

The song choice is everything in piquing the feels, nothing piqued for me with this one!
I'll rewatch the classics (power of love, golden slumbers, let me get what I want, can't fight this feeling etc) for some early festive feels 😂

I thought it was awful. The message seemed to be that you have to spend a lot of money and go to a lot of effort for spoilt children to like you. Which might be true but isn't aspirational.

KST's hair looked great.

This is beautifully written and lovely. I think they should have asked you to create their advert instead! 👏❤️

I look forward to this ad every year. Not sure what they are thinking this year. I’m disappointed.

Dreadful . Didn’t make me feel anything except rage at the badly behaved rude kids and the magnificent rich house !
JL haven’t had a decent Xmas advert for years they try too hard . Bring back animals , snowmen etc . My fave was the the snowman travelling to get his snow lady a present !

Also I don’t think the mixed race family really worked as there is no black parent in the world who would let their children be that rude to a grandparent! (Nb I’m not saying white parents would either, but that’s something that really stood out for me- just yeah, that wouldn’t happen 🤣)

I love KST but the kids are brats and the parents weak. Also I’m not sure if the kids would actually like what she did as a present 😆😆

I think it's meant to be a joke- because adverts /films like this always 'do a montage' (like Pretty Woman). Everything is so 'meta' these days- looks at us 'doing a montage'.

But like the rest of the advert, since it needed explaining, it fell a bit flat.

Yep - going to my hairdresser with a screenshot of KST's hair this week, and I suspect I won't be the only one... 😁

(She's one of the most beautiful women alive, and there is something so forlorn about her doing the 'pick me' dance for those ghastly kids - they may be delightful children in real life, but they've got a stinker of a script)...

Also, I had that dog when I was young and I’m 49. KST is beautiful and so cool but she’s definitely not in my age range. Did they have those dogs when she was young?

edit: they were introduced in 1966 so I was very wrong 😆😆

I thought it was shite. Kids were rude, mum was rude- brought nothing for her kids to do so they made a mess and she informed the grandma it was because they needed something to do- as if it was grandmas fault. The dog was nostalgic but the light up cart thing was not the best mode of transport. And then she bought them disco lights, was it? I’m not even sure. As if they shook their cards out for money too 🙈

I'm so confused why there aren't more John Lewis products on display. Are they giving up on toy sales and now don't have anything to actually advertise?

Nah, they should fully bring back the emotional gut punch!

I like KST too, but I preferred it when they weren't using big names in their ads. She's very much Lady Di Tav to me these days, so the kind Granny vibe just isn't working 😂

I mean it's awful, hate the talking toy dog, but the best bit about John Lewis adverts is trying to find reasons to be outraged or making up scandalous back stories, for instance (off the top of my head, I could play for much longer if I rewatch):

Penguin - sex trafficking/forced marriage vibes

Moon man one - what did he do that was so awful they moved him to the moon?!

This one - what did grandma do previously? Did she ruin a Christmas in some way, is there a massive NC back story and this is the first chance to try again? Are they all there under duress - maybe she threatened to write them out of the will if she doesn't get to see the grandchildren, and mum and dad need the money because she previously tricked them into funding her huge house purchase and they weren't legally savvy enough to protect themselves so they now have to grin and bear and play happy families even though she ruined their lives... Hence mum not caring about the behaviour.

You know.... That sort of thing, it's a very christmassy game obviously 😁

Yes! Kids, animals, characters is where it's at at Christmas.
'The journey' is my fave JL Christmas ad too. I've loved that song since I was a nipper, and the Gabrielle Aplin cover is just as good as the original.

I hated this and felt it was a real waste of amazing KST. The ad is so patronising to her character - out of touch grandma just doddering around trying desperately to buy her family's love.

The kids and the mum were so rude and the dad just stood there like a lemon the whole time. KST should have chucked them out of her house and taken herself out for a fabulous Christmas dinner with her girlfriends.

I actually liked last year's JL advert (with the non-speaking teenage boy and the dad's flashback to his clubbing days). It was quite subtle and realistic about what family Christmasses can often be like. This was just about nasty caricatures of unlikable people, with an annoying talking dog.

Best thing about it is Sam Fender

Why on earth are JL promoting bratty children and wet lettuce parents? Baffling.