Wiping your tears with one hand, swiping your wallet with the other
Do you remember that John Lewis Christmas advert a few years ago? You know the one. There was a bear and a hare, and a big frozen lake. And at night all the animals would skate and dance on the frozen lake. Except the bear. He would sit in his cave, looking down at his big clumsy paws, and out at the hare having so much fun. And there was a sparse, delicate piano, caressed by the cutesy, vulnerable voice of Ellie Goulding, or someone like that: “We get it almost every night / When the moon is big and bright / It’s a supernatural delight.”
As a clock strikes midnight – Christmas – and all the animals exchange gifts and dance and skate and embrace, we find the bear once again sat in his cave, alone, with a tear forming in the corner of his eye. Suddenly, the hare pops his head round the corner, bearing a gift: a pair of shining-new, bear-sized ice skates. The piano expands and Ellie Goulding’s voice rises from a whisper to a whine. Euphoric. “Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight.” The bear and the hare look into each other’s eyes, then skate off to join the party.
Okay, I may well have imagined it. But it will probably be next year’s one. During The X-factor of 2016, you’re likely to see a five-second teaser advert with a frozen lake glistening in the moonlight. “#FrozenLake”. Everyone will say, “Now it’s Christmas,” and, “John Lewis is Christmas!”
You see, the public don’t even have to think of their own hashtag when the full advert drops, because social media will take care of distribution, and John Lewis can pay less to television broadcasters for advertising. The £7 million John Lewis spent on each of their last three Christmas ad campaigns is good value considering Tesco, Sainsbury’s and M&S each spent around £20 million on less effective rip-offs last year. All advertisers are shrewd and manipulative by definition, but John Lewis, better than anyone, shroud this trait in a cloud of sentimentality — and it is this that the big retailers are imitating.
With advertising company Adam & Eve DDB, John Lewis have shifted the whole style of Christmas advertising from selling specific products to inspiring trust in the brand, through what Craig Inglis, their marketing director, describes as “telling a story and making the emotional connection”.
To make that “emotional connection” John Lewis focus on loneliness: from a bear who has always spent Christmas alone, to a penguin who has no one to love. Loneliness has become a hot topic in recent years, from research indicating that loneliness has become an epidemic among young people, to the UK being named loneliness capital of Europe, and, on 3rd November, this Channel 4 News report on loneliness among the elderly going viral.
Just three days following the report, John Lewis released their new Christmas ad, about an old man on the moon, isolated and alone. The ad helps raise awareness for Age UK – a fantastic charity battling loneliness in the elderly. While John Lewis recognise that the elderly are especially vulnerable, and that they draw the most sympathy, they also recognise that we all experience loneliness to some degree. Especially in the cold winter months, when we shut ourselves away and watch the John Lewis advert and empathise with that old man, and absorb the gospel of John Lewis. So when we buy great gifts from John Lewis we will feel so much more connected, so much more loved, and on Christmas day, we won’t wake up with the crippling sense of loneliness that accompanies each and every other day of the year.
“Scrooge!” you shout. “At least John Lewis convey a good, moral message. They use their advertisement to help a noble charity.” No, they use a noble charity to help their advertisement. They exploit the public’s good will and insecurities to make money. In 1953, Mrs Santa Claus and Sexism were used to sell ironing boards; in 2008, Kerry Catona and Modern Celebrity were used to sell frozen food; and in 2015, Age UK and Insecurity are used to sell whatever it is John Lewis actually sell. Using Age UK to pull on people’s heartstrings is no less shameless than having Kerry Catona shove products down people’s throats. Christmas fell to consumerism decades ago; John Lewis aren’t trying to make things better, just make the honey trap look sweeter.
Over the next month, with pressure growing and time shrinking, I will spend my spare moments stressing over what would make good, thoughtful gifts, that will bring the family closer together on Christmas day. At 1pm on the 23rd December, three hours before my train home, I will be stood on Oxford Street with an empty bag over my shoulder, drenched in rain, bent double from guilt, delirious from stress.
What am I going to do? Why can’t I think of anything? “Oh God! … John Lewis!” In my head I will hear a sparse, delicate piano and a cutesy, vulnerable voice: “Dancing in the moonlight.” I will go to John Lewis, because John Lewis is Christmas! It will cost a fortune. I’m skint. But what option do I have? I can’t look like a bad son, and I don’t want to feel like a bad uncle, or upset my stepparents. Everyone knows my older, more organised, more thoughtful sister will give better presents than me, but they can’t be too much better. And I need to get her something, obviously. And her husband. And the dog. And … Well, there is no alternative. Christmas is about giving; that’s what the Bible says. I think. It’s definitely what John Lewis says, and who cares what the Bible says anyhow — John Lewis is god now. You can’t escape that. You’re trapped. See you there on the 23rd. I will be the one torn between anxiety and resentment, humming a mournful cover of Toploader.
Image from: http://www.swlondoner.co.uk/age-uk-merton-praises-powerful-and-heart-warming-john-lewis-christmas-advert/