Why this year's Christmas adverts are found wanting

These are just some of the ‘stars’ in this years Christmas adverts from the UK’s biggest retailers.

The Christmas advert has become as much a part of the Christmas tradition as turkey, tinsel and repeats of Only Fools and Horses.

Planning starts way back in the summer as the advertising wizards put their heads together.

But just how important actually are Christmas adverts to retailers?

According to Yorkshire retail and business expert Kate Hardcastle it is much more about brand image than making a killing.

“It is very much about brand and image,” says Hardcastle.

“I always compare Christmas adverts to pantomime, People love to cheer and boo. It’s something retailers feel they have to be part of . The spend a lot of time money and effort on them.”

While it always challenging getting the right tone when you are planning something that won’t air for half a year, last year was particularly difficult.

“When the retailers were looking at Christmas last year no one knew whether we would be in lockdown or what would be happening,” says Hardcastle.

“They had to be so careful about the tone of the adverts and I think on the while they did a very good job.”

This year, however, she is disappointed with the offering.

“Last month it was all about COP26 and climate change,” she says. “Where is that now? They seem to have forgotten about saving the planet. It is all about consumption once again. But they need to be careful, customers are getting much more aware and retailers ignore that at their peril.”

Having said that some of the big hitters are trying to look altruistic.

Morrisons gives more than a nod to the role played by our food producers with its Farmer Christmas advert.

Aldi has teamed up with Marcus Rashford (and Kevin the Carrot) in its advert based on the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol.

Hardcastle for one is pleased to see Kevin the Carrot back as he has become synonymous with the Aldi brand and brings some much-needed humour, which is sadly lacking from many of the Christmas adverts, in her opinion.

“Cuthbert the Caterpillar being arrested in the background is fantastic. Aldi has given us laugh and that’s what customers want. But not the usual ‘not enough seats round the table’ type of humour, that is just too predictable. Retailers need to be cleverer than that and I think Aldi has done that really well.”

Aldi also works with Neighbourly, which links businesses to charitable organisations in local communities, to donate its surplus food to local causes. Rashford’s family relied on food banks when he was growing up especially at Christmas.

John Lewis was already committed to donating to charity, but it ended up probably giving more than it meant to after getting into hot water with the soundtrack to its Christmas advert.

A young alien experiencing her first Christmas – complete with mince pies and novelty jumper – is the star of its festive campaign.

The soundtrack is provided by 20-year-old London singer and songwriter Lola Young, who performs a cover of Together In Electric Dreams, originally released by Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder in 1984.

But the advert has not been without controversy. John Lewis ended up donating to the charity of a folk group called the Portraits who claimed the arrangement was a copy of one they recorded last year for charity

A spokesman for John Lewis said: “We share common interests with The Portraits in the love of the song and our commitment to charities.

“We’re glad to donate to The Portraits’ chosen charities and proud that our Give A Little Love campaign has generated £8m for good causes in the last year, including donations to Mind and Cruse.

“Our version of Electric Dreams is an original cover that was properly authorised by our advertising agency, who secured copyright licences from the original publishers of the track on our behalf.

“A brand like ours would never copy another cover version.”

Another retailer to get in hot water this Christmas is Tesco. Its advert, which features Father Christmas bearing his Covid vaccine passport, has amassed more than 3,000 complaints, making it the most complained about TV advert of the year.

M&S has very much gone for promoting its food offering, recruiting Hollywood A-lister Tom Holland who has swapped his Spiderman suit to become Percy Pig along with Dawn French as a fairy.

“M&S has banked a lot on its hero products and their emphasis is definitely on their food.”

And M&S isn’t alone in recruiting some big names to help its Christmas campaign.

In its first ever Christmas advert Sports Direct has enlisted what looks like a who’s who of the sporting world.

Jack Grealish, Declan Rice, Mason Mount, Jordan Pickford, Emma Raducanu, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Big Narstie all appear in the campaign which is encouraging viewers to get up and go play some games this Christmas, all while wrapping up warm in the latest sports outfits.

For Hardcastle, the retailer who has just about got it right, is Disney.

“We can always count on Disney to make us feel warm and fuzzy inside – and their Christmas offering for 2021 has certainly done the trick,” she says.

“They have got the balance just about right. It has a blended family but it isn’t ramming it down your throat. They are animated characters and is really about what Christmas, and Christmas adds should be about.”

This year, Mickey and Co. have expanded upon their festive campaign “From Our Family To Yours”, in support of Make-A-Wish, for a heartwarming advert with family and love at the heart of it.

Following on from last year’s advert, “Lola“, this year we see a grown-up Nicole (the granddaughter from Lola) with her two children, Max and Ella, as stepdad Mike moves in.

Any change in the family home takes time, and Mike must learn from doting mum Nicole on how to be the best stepdad to Max and Ella possible. Gregory Porter performs original track Love Runs Deeper.

Hardcastle is very clear the message to retailers this festive season is ‘could do better.’

“There are still too many adverts that are about the organisation and not enough about the people who shop there.

“For me the winning formula is humour and that’s the best way to go. We all need a bit more fun in our lives.”

But in the end does it really matter to retailers whether people love or hate the adverts – so long as people are talking about them?