The new John Lewis Christmas ad... it's a good un

GoodBridge

DrumSteve

Well, they've ruined a perfectly good Noel Gallagher tune.

Menas

DrumSteve wrote: »

Well, they've ruined a perfectly good Noel Gallagher tune.

Beat me to it!

razorblunt

That's quite poor I have to say.
Every ad is going for a slower, softer cover version, I know HTWA wasn't hugely uptempo, I thought they'd change it up a little.
It's no travelling snowman anyway that's for sure.

efb

It highlights loneliness amongst the elderly and promotes science to girls

I love it

Omackeral

It's stupid, he doesn't even have a spacesuit on. He'd die. Worst documentary I've ever seen.

Mr E

I liked it.

The little girl scienced the sh*t out of it.

smash

Wait... how did he get there?

kneemos

smash wrote: »

Wait... how did he get there?

He shat in the kitchen.

smash

kneemos wrote: »

He shat in the kitchen.

Did they rub his nose in it?

John Lewis My Ar*e. That theme tune is the Royle Family, nothing more, nothing less.

Mars Bar

Had anyone anything to say about the message of the ad rather than the music?

I thought it was lovely and a great reminder that there are many older people who struggle coming in to this time of the year. Even if you take the time to look after one lonely relative or neighbour, it's still one happier person this Christmas.

lambayire

I like it.

podgemonster

ahem......just a bit of....dust in my eye there.

Dozen Wicked Words

Lovely, no hawking of "stuff", I much prefer that version of the song, and when most other adverts around this time are a minute of rampant consumerism, or destroying the idea of Father Christmas/Santa (Paypal I'm looking at you you miserable fuppers) at least John Lewis try a bit of subtlety in getting people to spend their money there.

La Haine

Personally I think it's the worst one yet.

I'd be wondering why the old man was banished to solitary confinement on the moon in the first place. If you get me....

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

It highlights loneliness amongst girls and promotes science to the elderly...

Not bad.

sadie06

Has nobody ever heard of the man in the moon? It's a lovely characterisation, and in this instance being used to highlight loneliness. I think it works beautifully with the lyrics. Many older people feel half a world away they have so little human contact on a weekly basis.

I love this ad. It says something and it makes me feel something.

Omackeral

La Haine wrote: »

Personally I think it's the worst one yet.

I'd be wondering why the old man was banished to solitary confinement on the moon in the first place. If you get me....

It's a metaphor for being alone. I'd imagine there are elderly people in that situation whose families have emigrated, passed away or sadly just don't visit anymore.

Buona Fortuna

Nah.

This was the best

jamesbere

Someone must be chopping onions nearby

whiskeyman

Don't see any point to it.
Most of the odd old men on my street already have telescope or binoculars to look at all the small children on the road...

MilesMorales1

John Lewis gets me every ****ing time. Combination of good marketing and the nostalgia I have from spending so much of my life as a child trailing round John Lewis with my mum.

pconn062

Mars Bar wrote: »

Had anyone anything to say about the message of the ad rather than the music?

I thought it was lovely and a great reminder that there are many older people who struggle coming in to this time of the year. Even if you take the time to look after one lonely relative or neighbour, it's still one happier person this Christmas.

The message of the ad is "buy products in John Lewis". Fair enough, they are more subtle than other ads, but at the end of the day, that's all they care about. People shouldn't need a brand to remind them about elderly people being alone at Christmas time.

The real spirit of Christmas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM4mJVXXMcc

razorblunt

I must have been half asleep this morning.
I went for a tea in the canteen and had a eureka moment ... "it's about eldery people being alone", came back here and see almost everyone else got that.

I'm re-watching in a whole new light now.
I'm so shallow!

efb

Guess what I ordered for my goddaughter for Xmas...

efb

pconn062 wrote: »

The message of the ad is "buy products in John Lewis". Fair enough, they are more subtle than other ads, but at the end of the day, that's all they care about. People shouldn't need a brand to remind them about elderly people being alone at Christmas time.

Unfortunately they do and nice of JL to use its Xmas as to remind them

Tarzana2

Deleted User wrote: »

John Lewis My Ar*e. That theme tune is the Royle Family, nothing more, nothing less.

Yup.

Crumpets

I think it's sweet

Buona Fortuna

efb wrote: »

Guess what I ordered for my goddaughter for Xmas...

A teas made from John Lewis?

tmh106

I think it's sentimental tosh, that will do nothing to promote science among girls or action on loneliness among the elderly, but it will no doubt help promote John Lewis, which in fairness, is the intention I imagine.

Tilly

The Ikea one for this year is miles better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dAQ6_gXQy4

ALL the feels

RayM

La Haine wrote: »

Personally I think it's the worst one yet.

I'd be wondering why the old man was banished to solitary confinement on the moon in the first place. If you get me....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRRw1ERj2Gc

Tarzana2

Tilly wrote: »

The Ikea one for this year is miles better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dAQ6_gXQy4

ALL the feels

I unashamedly love all IKEA ads.

The John Lewis ad just makes me feel sad, reminding me there are countless numbers of lonely people out there.

And yes, it's just flog stuff. (like IKEA)

gutenberg

It's a nice ad. Yes, of course they are hoping to sell you stuff. But they're also aiming to raise money for the charity Age UK: they have a range of goods based on the ad, and the profits from those go to the charity, while apparently in their shops they have booths where the charity can sign up volunteers. So yes, amidst the consumerism which is undoubtedly there, there is a little flicker of social good one hopes.

wil

efb wrote: »

Guess what I ordered for my goddaughter for Xmas...

A years supply of balloons and "Science for Dummies" in hardback:)

valoren

Assuming the little girl decided upon a direct ascent approach in order to rendezvous the package with lunar orbit and assuming the package would travel at an average speed of 200kph and the distance to the moon (384,400km) then in order to reach the old man on Christmas Day, the package would need to be launched by the little girl 80 days before Christmas Day, 6th October.

Yet again, further proof that Christmas get's earlier every year

Lollipops23

It *may* be hormone-related, but I sobbed.


I really miss my nana sometimes

smash

Tilly wrote: »

The Ikea one for this year is miles better:

Agreed. Much better advert!

GoodBridge

pconn062 wrote: »

The message of the ad is "buy products in John Lewis". Fair enough, they are more subtle than other ads, but at the end of the day, that's all they care about.

It's obviously a successful marketing campaign at it's core but that doesn't mean there isn't an altruistic side to it. There are plenty of commercial entities who do charitable things (e.g. Ronald McDonald House http://rmhc.ie/what-we-do/) and plenty of businesses make charitable donations with either goods or money with little or no direct benefit to themselves. It's cynical and an over-simplification to assume otherwise.

There are people who came up with this idea and it works in a mutually beneficial way - kudos to them.

pconn062 wrote: »

People shouldn't need a brand to remind them about elderly people being alone at Christmas time.

They shouldn't but it's an important message and, like the reminders on radio and tv to check on elderly neighbours when bad weather hits, it bears repeating so what harm?

Figbiscuithead

It's a nice ad as ads go and the message is good one but although I'm not cynical by nature, I'm a little sick of marketing with a heart that seems to be popular nowadays; it's not exactly hard to pull at the heart-strings of most people but the goal is the same: to sell you **** you don't need.

Tarzana2

gutenberg wrote: »

It's a nice ad. Yes, of course they are hoping to sell you stuff. But they're also aiming to raise money for the charity Age UK: they have a range of goods based on the ad, and the profits from those go to the charity, while apparently in their shops they have booths where the charity can sign up volunteers. So yes, amidst the consumerism which is undoubtedly there, there is a little flicker of social good one hopes.

Companies donating money to charity increases their sales so it's not a selfless act. They benefit from giving money to charities. They end up with more profits than if they didn't give to charity.

efb

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Companies donating money to charity increases their sales so it's not a selfless act. They benefit from giving money to charities. They end up with more profits than if they didn't give to charity.

So why don't they all do it???

Tarzana2

efb wrote: »

So why don't they all do it???

Who knows. A lot do. Corporate social responsibility and all, the cynical side me thinks they only do CSR if it benefits them. Like the way numerous companies featured the breast cancer ribbon.

John Lewis, like every other company, is about the bottom line. The effort they put into their Christmas ads every year clearly pays off for them.

tmh106

efb wrote: »

So why don't they all do it???

Actually, the vast majority, if not all, do. Certainly most large national and multi-national type companies do.

SEPT 23 1989

Interstellar vibe off that

kneemos

Poor oul crater on the Moon.

gutenberg

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Companies donating money to charity increases their sales so it's not a selfless act. They benefit from giving money to charities. They end up with more profits than if they didn't give to charity.

Of course. But I would still prefer a company that was engaged in some kind of charity work versus one that wasn't.

Tarzana2

gutenberg wrote: »

Of course. But I would still prefer a company that was engaged in some kind of charity work versus one that wasn't.

As said above, John Lewis are far from unique though, most big companies take part in CSR activities.

I liked it. I'm a sentimental old soul so those ads get me every time.

*sniff*