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 \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
In fifth place is John Lewis with their \u2018Little Shop of Horrors\u2019 inspired \u2018Snapper: The Perfect Tree\u2019. The John Lewis Christmas advert has become a staple in the run up to the holiday season. Adverts like \u2018the Bear and the Hare\u2019 (2013) or their snowman advert (2012) established their forte in the Christmas advert business \u2013 and may be argued to have largely popularised the attention Christmas adverts receive in the UK. That said, John Lewis hasn\u2019t always hit the mark on their advertisements. Their 2018 crossover with Elton John wasn\u2019t as well received, because who apart from Ellis house likes Elton John? 2015\u2019s \u2018Man on the moon\u2019 was heavily criticised as well, in that the actions of the elderly man were related to those of 1970s children\u2019s tv presenters who hand out medals and were knighted for their charity work whilst secretly hiding some real skeletons in their closet \u2013 both figuratively and literally (\u2018The Reckoning\u2019 is currently available on BBC iPlayer). Last year\u2019s 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. \u2018Snapper: The Perfect Tree\u2019 depicts a young boy growing a \u2018Christmas Tree\u2019 more aligned to Audrey II \u2013 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 \u2013 in a much gentler way than M&S\u2019 \u2018anti-Palestinian\u2019 promotional images (\u2018O Come Emmanual and ransom captive Israel\u2019 and all that). It may not be their best advert \u2013 perhaps similar to their 2019 \u2018Edgar the Dragon\u2019 advert \u2013 yet it\u2019s comedic and emotional nature is strong enough for it to be given fifth place. (As well, it provides good advertising for Ashville\u2019s own Little Shop of Horrors adaptation coming to the Soothill Hall in 2024 \u2013 tickets available soon).<\/p>\n
Coming in next at fourth place is TK Maxx\u2019s \u2018Festive Farm\u2019. Christmas adverts often range from the comedic to the emotionally resonating, and TK Maxx\u2019s 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 \u2013 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 \u2018that\u2019s my Jeanne\u2019. Whilst the more successful adverts are often more sentimental, TK Maxx\u2019s remains light heartedly comedic, yet wholesome with its brief focus on the farmer\u2019s family \u2013 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\u2019t detract from the advert \u2013 so that TK Maxx has placed fourth place this year.<\/p>\n
In third place is Barbour\u2019s latest crossover advert \u2013 this time with Shaun the Sheep. In a similar style to TK Maxx\u2019s advert, Barbour\u2019s 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\u2019s really the farm\u2019s 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 \u2013 famous endearing cartoon IP has to replace a jacket for someone and choose one made to last with Barbour \u2013 but it remains nevertheless charming. It isn\u2019t the first time Aardman have collaborated with a brand for a Christmas Advert: in 2019 Wallace and Gromit advertised Joules\u2019 30th<\/sup> 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\u2019s advert, allowing it to reach third place this year.<\/p>\n Next, coming in at a close second place (rather strangely) is Amazon\u2019s endearing \u2018Joy Ride\u2019. 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 \u2013 I mean, they really don\u2019t have too, as Amazon\u2019s workers have seemingly replaced Santa\u2019s Elves in toy production. Their advert last year \u2013 entitled \u2018Joy is made\u2019 \u2013 attempted to move towards the emotional group of adverts but didn\u2019t 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. \u2018Joy Ride\u2019 follows three elderly women \u2013 perhaps from the classic \u2018isn\u2019t it windy\u2019, \u2018no it\u2019s Thursday\u2019, \u2018oh so am I, let\u2019s have a cup of tea\u2019 joke \u2013 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 \u2018elderly women go sledding\u2019 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\u2019s \u2018Back In Black\u2019 plays in the background. But Amazon\u2019s direction wasn\u2019t crude by any means, and comes across well as a Christmas advert, giving it second place in the rankings.<\/p>\n Finally, coming in at first place, again rather surprisingly, is Lidl\u2019s simply titled \u2018A Magical Christmas with Lidl\u2019. Lidl, by all accounts, is one store you wouldn\u2019t expect to produce good Christmas adverts. On the same level as Aldi, Asda or Sainsbury\u2019s, Lidl usually produces the tongue-and-cheek Christmas adverts that aren\u2019t as recognised as often. It\u2019s fair to say that they grew in confidence last year from their Christmas campaign with the \u2018Lidl bear\u2019 \u2013 an advert featuring quite a meta narrator detailing the rise to stardom of a young girl\u2019s teddy bear wearing a Lidl Christmas jumper \u2013 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\u2019s 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\u2019 previous Christmas campaigns \u2013 \u2018Buster the Boxer\u2019 and the aforementioned snowman advert of 2012. It isn\u2019t 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\u2019t 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 \u2013 so that \u2018A Magical Christmas with Lidl\u2019 is worthy of 1st<\/sup> place with the Christmas Adverts of 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Monty counts down the best ads of the festive season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/computing.ashville.co.uk\/iaintest1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/computing.ashville.co.uk\/iaintest1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/computing.ashville.co.uk\/iaintest1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computing.ashville.co.uk\/iaintest1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computing.ashville.co.uk\/iaintest1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/computing.ashville.co.uk\/iaintest1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":735,"href":"https:\/\/computing.ashville.co.uk\/iaintest1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions\/735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computing.ashville.co.uk\/iaintest1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/computing.ashville.co.uk\/iaintest1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computing.ashville.co.uk\/iaintest1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computing.ashville.co.uk\/iaintest1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}