Tuesday 15 November 2011

GIVE AND TAKE

If we really MUST have Christmas commercials in November, I could wish they were all as good as this one...



And here's the 'Making of' video...



9 comments:

Suzanne said...

How lovely! There's a lesson for us all there...

SharonM said...

That really is lovely - and it's such a powerful message, without us being bombarded with all the expensive toys and gadgets you see on so many adverts.

And what a gorgeous little boy.

Sheila said...

Hmm, not sure about this one. It's a good message on the surface, but it's still saying that the point of Christmas is for everyone to spend money - preferably at a John Lewis store.

I think I'm with the Guardian or Observer columnist (sorry, can't remember which one!) who said (something like) "Is it just me who thinks that the box the little boy gives to his parents contains the head of their dog".

Brian Sibley said...

Interesting divergence of ideas and I dare say Sheila is right - about the motivation but I hope not about the severed head.

From an advertising standpoint it is particularly bold because there is no indication of John Lewis top Christmas sellers or, indeed, any product placement at all until the final branding caption. But it is also clever (and, possibly, cynical) in the way in which it associates the company with (a) sentiments of altruism and (b) ensures the viewer has appreciative feelings towards JL for the lack of heavy 'sell'.

Andreas Deja said...

Beautiful !!
Made my day.

WendyLady@GoodBooks said...

I saw this yesterday on Facebook (yes, I admit I'm on fb - ugh!) and was so taken by the twist at the end, I had to rewatch it, to see who produced it. I was shocked to realize that it was a commercial! Taking that into account, I'd say they did a good job at downplaying the adverstising aspect. And how ironic - I posted it on my blog today as well. :)

Brian Sibley said...

Great minds, Wendy, great minds! :)

Anonymous said...

I'm sure that Dickens hoped to make money out of "A Christmas Carol", but that didn't stop it being a good book. I suspect that even C. S. Lewis at his most Xmas-allergic might have smiled at this ad's twist.

elizabethanne said...

I'm with Anonymous. Loved the twist, and as Brian said at the outset, if all Christmas adverts could be like this, it *might* reconcile us to their appearance long before the delightful boy in the ad started finding the chocs in his Advent calendar.

SCB/Beth/you know, 'er wot can't figure out 'er name these days.