John Lewis’s Christmas advert is back – and this year’s effort is even more mawkish, unfocused and wearying than ever. The latest promo, conceived by advertising veterans Saatchi & Saatchi, is yet another underwhelming instalment in the store’s increasingly desperate attempt to sell their wares.
Everyone’s favourite bastion of middle-class sensibility has latched on to increasing sales of vinyl records as the market to go after. And so, the two-minute film tells the story of a middle-aged dad given a record as a present by his son. The old man is briefly transported back to his clubbing days in his nineties heyday, as soundtracked by the once-popular Alison Limerick song ‘Where Love Lies’.
Bizarrely, dad is distracted from his hedonistic remembrances by a vision of his son standing by himself. The song shifts into a slower, more sentimental cover version by Labrinth – and then, perhaps because papa has popped one too many smiley pills, he has a further recollection of his now awkward-looking son as a sweet-natured little boy. The advert ends happily. Father and son embrace awkwardly at home. The decidedly moneyed milieu suggests that dad’s acid casualty days have not done his earning potential any harm whatsoever.
The theme of this year’s advert – that music brings families together – is hard to escape. The film ends with a suitably mawkish tagline: ‘If you can’t find the words, find the gift.’ Men, clearly, are inarticulate, and only able to express themselves either through music or football fandom. Well, in some cases, John Lewis has a point.
The decidedly moneyed milieu suggests that dad’s acid casualty days have not done his earning potential any harm whatsoever
As usual with the last few John Lewis campaigns, it begs more questions than it answers. Are we supposed to believe that the father is in some sense regretful of his clubbing reverie, and that he came close to neglecting his family as a result? Or is it presented as a formative experience? Perhaps tearfully hugging strangers while ‘coming up’ and telling them that they are one’s ‘best mates forever’ is a vital part in learning how to become a good parent? Beats me. But beats, in their Nineties form, are clearly what the ad revolves around, and the sinking feeling comes that, yes, John Lewis are trying to be hip.
This is never a good idea. Since its foundation in 1864, the John Lewis Partnership has based its considerable success not in attempting to second-guess the zeitgeist, but in embodying a consistent stability. This winning formula has allowed John Lewis to continue serenely on while many of its rivals – Debenhams, anyone? – have long since disappeared in the ruthlessly competitive high street market, or what remains of it, anyway. Yet the suspicion here is that some advertising executive, perhaps with Technicolour-tinted flashbacks of his or her own days on ‘the scene’, has decided that it is not enough that the Christmas advert should merely be heartwarming and/or sweet-natured. Instead, it should make a point about father-son relationships, all conducted through the medium of club music.
Limerick will, of course, have a huge hit on her hands from the nostalgia effect of her song. Nobody would begrudge her – or indeed Labrinth – the vast sales that the blanket marketing effect of the music will engender. But wishing that John Lewis’s advert was better is now almost as much of a festive tradition as its much-hyped unveiling in early November.
The last time John Lewis’s advert was effective was in 2022. BAck then, some apparently context-free scenes of another apparently bumbling father learning to skateboard paid off at the end when it was revealed that he has been preparing for the advent of his foster child, a keen skateboarder. It may not have had much to do with Christmas, but it was at least witty, memorable and hugely effective. It cemented the image of John Lewis as arbiter of the season of peace and goodwill.
By contrast, this year’s advert says little about family relationships, music or even the festive season. Instead, it contributes to a sense that a company that recently announced losses of £88 million for the first half of the year should themselves take a closer look at where love does, indeed, lie. Chances are it’s not in this rather embarrassing effort.
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