A few weeks back, I was with my mum on the food run. The store-brand Halloween chocolate was just being stacked on the shelves, and the big baskets where pumpkins would be laid were just being brought out. Yet in the bakery section of the store were at least twenty boxes of Mince Pies – all of which expired before the middle of November. That is to say, Christmas always comes early, and this is reflected by the early November releases of every Christmas advert under the sun. Of course, not all Christmas adverts are made equally, and today I will be reviewing the Top 5 Christmas adverts of Christmas 2023.
In fifth place is John Lewis with their ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ inspired ‘Snapper: The Perfect Tree’. The John Lewis Christmas advert has become a staple in the run up to the holiday season. Adverts like ‘the Bear and the Hare’ (2013) or their snowman advert (2012) established their forte in the Christmas advert business – and may be argued to have largely popularised the attention Christmas adverts receive in the UK. That said, John Lewis hasn’t always hit the mark on their advertisements. Their 2018 crossover with Elton John wasn’t as well received, because who apart from Ellis house likes Elton John? 2015’s ‘Man on the moon’ was heavily criticised as well, in that the actions of the elderly man were related to those of 1970s children’s tv presenters who hand out medals and were knighted for their charity work whilst secretly hiding some real skeletons in their closet – both figuratively and literally (‘The Reckoning’ is currently available on BBC iPlayer). Last year’s John Lewis advert made headlines for its message on the foster-care system. This year however, John Lewis have chosen to return to an earlier stage of Christmas advertising. ‘Snapper: The Perfect Tree’ depicts a young boy growing a ‘Christmas Tree’ more aligned to Audrey II – whose accelerated growth nearly ruins Christmas before his family choose to accept and embrace him in their Christmas celebration. The advert features a fast-paced soundtrack that keeps you engaged and has a sweet underlying message of celebrating your own unique Christmas traditions – in a much gentler way than M&S’ ‘anti-Palestinian’ promotional images (‘O Come Emmanual and ransom captive Israel’ and all that). It may not be their best advert – perhaps similar to their 2019 ‘Edgar the Dragon’ advert – yet it’s comedic and emotional nature is strong enough for it to be given fifth place. (As well, it provides good advertising for Ashville’s own Little Shop of Horrors adaptation coming to the Soothill Hall in 2024 – tickets available soon).
Coming in next at fourth place is TK Maxx’s ‘Festive Farm’. Christmas adverts often range from the comedic to the emotionally resonating, and TK Maxx’s entry falls in with the former. The advert depicts a variety of farm animals walking out of a barn dressed in designer wares whilst rap music plays in the background – censored with the moos, baas and quacks of the farm animals. The advert is interrupted with a quick quip from a farmer to his wife about how she has bought designer clothing for all the farm animals at a cheap price with ‘that’s my Jeanne’. Whilst the more successful adverts are often more sentimental, TK Maxx’s remains light heartedly comedic, yet wholesome with its brief focus on the farmer’s family – cemented with the soft west-country accents featured. The advert, whilst featuring animals from hedgehogs to alpacas, remains very festive with the snow-covered landscape and festive sweaters adorning each creature stirring. Whilst some may not appreciate the rap music, the censorship of animal noises and slight jingle in the background make it comedically festive and don’t detract from the advert – so that TK Maxx has placed fourth place this year.
In third place is Barbour’s latest crossover advert – this time with Shaun the Sheep. In a similar style to TK Maxx’s advert, Barbour’s entry takes place on a snow-covered farm setting. Because it is based on Shaun the Sheep, it is comedic, with gags about getting injured or snow falling on the cast of Mossy Bottom Farm (that’s really the farm’s name in Shaun the Sheep). The advert features the Farmer slowly waring his jacket down, with Shaun and co. make-shifting a patchwork coat to replace it, before deciding to get him a new Barbour coat made to last. The advert is nearly the same as all prior Barbour adverts – famous endearing cartoon IP has to replace a jacket for someone and choose one made to last with Barbour – but it remains nevertheless charming. It isn’t the first time Aardman have collaborated with a brand for a Christmas Advert: in 2019 Wallace and Gromit advertised Joules’ 30th Festive Anniversary; in 2020, they advertised DFS; and both Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep have featured in festive themed idents for the BBC. The charm of Aardman Animations lends itself well to this merry period, and lends itself well to Barbour’s advert, allowing it to reach third place this year.
Next, coming in at a close second place (rather strangely) is Amazon’s endearing ‘Joy Ride’. Amazon is a company that you would not expect to put much thought or effort into their Christmas advertising, rather do a bare minimum that is above the dregs as to get some people buying from Amazon this holiday season – I mean, they really don’t have too, as Amazon’s workers have seemingly replaced Santa’s Elves in toy production. Their advert last year – entitled ‘Joy is made’ – attempted to move towards the emotional group of adverts but didn’t really come across as anything too special. This year however, their advert (whilst obviously trying very hard to pluck on your heart strings) does reach the emotional hights of some of the great Christmas adverts. ‘Joy Ride’ follows three elderly women – perhaps from the classic ‘isn’t it windy’, ‘no it’s Thursday’, ‘oh so am I, let’s have a cup of tea’ joke – watching over young teens sledding. One proceeds to buy them all padded cushions so they can sit comfortably in their own toboggans and ride down the slope. It intercuts with footage of the three women as children doing the exact same thing, whilst a gentle piano plays in the background. There are a few ways the idea of ‘elderly women go sledding’ could be realised. With the presence of teenagers, some may have expected punk pensioners to come out and shock all the youngsters with their sick sledding skills whilst AC/DC’s ‘Back In Black’ plays in the background. But Amazon’s direction wasn’t crude by any means, and comes across well as a Christmas advert, giving it second place in the rankings.
Finally, coming in at first place, again rather surprisingly, is Lidl’s simply titled ‘A Magical Christmas with Lidl’. Lidl, by all accounts, is one store you wouldn’t expect to produce good Christmas adverts. On the same level as Aldi, Asda or Sainsbury’s, Lidl usually produces the tongue-and-cheek Christmas adverts that aren’t as recognised as often. It’s fair to say that they grew in confidence last year from their Christmas campaign with the ‘Lidl bear’ – an advert featuring quite a meta narrator detailing the rise to stardom of a young girl’s teddy bear wearing a Lidl Christmas jumper – which was meant to be tongue-and-cheek, but really struck a chord with the general public. As such, this year Lidl have chosen to be slightly more heart-warming in their advertising than solely comedic. The advert features a raccoon and a young family. After the house dog destroys a young boy’s favourite Christmas ornament of a monkey, his mother goes out to get him a replacement soft toy, only to lose it on the journey home. The raccoon, after having pinched a Santa Hat from the family, goes on a quest over rivers and roads, streets and streams, to deliver the soft toy back to the family. The family dog chases the raccoon around a bit before realising the generosity of his actions and having a small Christmas dinner with him in the garden. The advert appears as a mix of two of John Lewis’ previous Christmas campaigns – ‘Buster the Boxer’ and the aforementioned snowman advert of 2012. It isn’t a perfect advert (the raccoon is very clearly CGI, made to appear cuter with shiny eyes and a fluffy coat, and the choice of a raccoon isn’t as prevalent for a UK audience) yet the advert remains heart-warming and comedic enough that it is enjoyable to watch whilst still having a positive and fun message about Christmas – so that ‘A Magical Christmas with Lidl’ is worthy of 1st place with the Christmas Adverts of 2023.