We give our take on the ads designed to make us laugh, cry and buy groceries this Christmas.
Is there any better time of year for advertising? Marketing teams gear up all year to bring us their Christmas ads and none more so than our Nation’s supermarket chains. Every year we’re taken on emotional rollercoasters with stories to tug at our heart strings and warm them with Christmas cheer. There’s no more competitive time for advertisers than Christmas, so we thought we’d see who the winners are in our book.
Now, we’re not for one second suggesting anything about production quality here. These ads are made by top class professionals, of course. But rather, our critique is based on whether they tap into that all-important Christmas spirit to bring us the festive feels.
Watched all together, the supermarkets have put on a great spread full of different flavours, from retro 80’s to contemporary comedies. So, which of our biggest supermarkets’ Christmas ads would we add to the nice list, and which would we give a big fat lump of coal?
Lidl Christmas advert
This tongue-in-cheek Christmas cracker is self-aware and full of merry mocking, taking a poke at the more traditional Christmas adverts. (Why not indulge? It’s Christmas after all!) Its animation style evokes an innocence that’s common in festive ads, which contrasts beautifully with its comedic song containing lyrics including “Emotional gravy, that potato looks nice…”
Along the way they torture a carrot – could that be a dig at their main competitor’s carrot-based advert? Whether by design or serendipity, we like to think it’s a great little play on their rivalry.
Verdict: Jingle bells
Aldi Christmas advert
Aldi chose animation, selecting, of all unlikely things, a carrot as their protagonist. Kevin the Carrot is a Dad who is just trying to get home to his kids. This cutesy adventure is reminiscent of Julia Donaldson’s Stick Man, so we can’t say fairer than that. An appearance by Santa and a nod to the feel-good classic movie ET ticks enough boxes for us.
Verdict: Jingle bells
Sainsbury’s Christmas advert
Sainsbury’s opted to have not one, but three Christmas adverts to celebrate the nostalgia of Christmas with three different stories showing footage of Christmases past. Sadly, the racists of Christmas present decided to spew vitriol over part 1 of the trilogy – The Gravy Song. Listen, racists – you’re on the naughty list and you only have yourself to blame. Putting the controversy aside, Sainsbury’s adverts portray the true meaning of Christmas – family, in whatever form it takes. You certainly had us reminiscing.
Verdict: Jingle bells
Asda Christmas advert
Asda celebrates a ‘new normal’ using a genuine, real-life superfan and his family to demonstrate that we can still have a very Merry Christmas this year (and as well we should!) Sunny is seen lighting up his house, cooking for his family and begging the question ‘to eat, or not to eat’ the brussel sprout cake. While it’s attempting to fill us with the cheer we all need this year, it doesn’t do enough to differentiate from your average supermarket advert for our liking.
Verdict: Jingle balls
Tesco Christmas advert
Gold star to Tesco – their ‘No naughty list’ messaging is bang on for this year and tackles the contemporary issues with an onslaught of hilarious references to what could have been considered naughty: “I may have bought too many loo rolls” is met with “so did I” while “I didn’t sponsor Captain Tom” is met with gasps…before assuring everyone not to worry – there is no naughty list. Conjuring genuine giggles, this wintery wonder gets our top vote.
Verdict: Jingle bells
M&S Christmas advert
Ooft – they almost had us with “These are a little bit fancy pants”, but the M&S Food Christmas advert just doesn’t have the sparkle it suggests. It’s kind of contemporaneous, it tries to be funny, it’s a little bit self-aware, but it’s not enough of any of the above. With a lingering focus on food and little else to whet the appetite, it’s just a bit dull – and we like our Christmas to be packed with festive flavour.
Verdict: Jingle balls
Morrisons Christmas advert
We get it – Dua Lipa tunes are catchy, but pitching your whole Christmas ad on an upbeat pop song doesn’t ring our bell. Morrisons’ Christmas advert is another to make reference to the horror of a year that’s gone, starting out by switching from a news recap of the past year on the radio to the popular artist’s song. It also features a nodding Santa wearing a mask and an NHS worker returning home for Christmas. Morrisons claim to ‘Make Christmas Special’, but without a coherent storyline, for us their advert is anything but. Nothing much to report here I’m afraid, but you might find yourself humming Levitating for the next few weeks.
Verdict: Jingle balls
Waitrose Christmas advert
Waitrose hits us with Christmas joy full whack in the face using a bevy of beautiful animations in its Give a Little Love advert. Segueing between live action, clay animation and illustration it follows random acts of kindness passing on from one character to the next. It’s classic Christmas advert, but we can’t fault it. Except for the heart-shaped hairdo.
Verdict: Jingle bells
Bonus ads to fire up your Christmas spirit…
Coca Cola Christmas advert
Sampling the classic ‘Holidays are coming…’ vibe the Coca Cola 2020 advert is an epic adventure. Like Aldi’s Christmas advert it features a Dad who battles the odds for his child, this time to deliver her letter to Santa to the North Pole, with a gorgeous little twist at the end.
Verdict: Jingle bells
Walkers Christmas advert
We couldn’t resist this delicious ad from Walkers that is absolutely rammed with joyful Christmas punnery. ‘Sausage CaRoll’ is advertising Walkers special Christmas charity flavour, sausage roll, to raise money for the Trussell Trust, which is reason enough to love it. But it’s the onslaught of clever little Christmas puns that really makes us merry. Take a look and see how many you can spot. I’ll start you out with ‘Sausage Rolls are Coming’, ‘We’re four Carols’ and the Stay Another Day parody break out.
Verdict: Jingle bells
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