The Coca-Cola advert isn’t on air yet ‒ so it’s not officially Christmas (it’s not X-mas until you’ve seen it!!!). But I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this holiday. I love it because this retarded Wizzard‘s video is on *all the time*. And oh, the mince pies… Errrr, how can I forget the smorgasbord of sugary treats… And, and, and the Starbucks’ Red Cups. I bloody hate it too, because of the bombardment of
outrageously cynical
adverts brimming with expensive titillation and futile fix. Then, an advert came along and… left me a blubbering mess!
It’s a 90-second advert by John Lewis, a British chain of upmarket department stores. It starts off with a little boy (a seven-year old named Lewis McGowan) eating the first chocolate of his Advent calendar, then spends the days counting off the hours, minutes and seconds until Christmas. With such words of Morrissey (Please, please, please let me get what I want/Lord knows it would be the first time), I was half-expecting this cherubic-looking boy to turn out to be a whiny desiring machine by the end of the advert, who wants his parents to cough up some proper nice presents after previous years’ downers.
How greedy and materialistic of me to think THAT. It’s Christmas morning and the boy shows up in his parents’ bedroom with a big wrapped box. Y-es, he was impatient to experience the joy of giving his parents a special gift of his own. Did it not just melt your heart? The message? Better to give than to receive, which is the spirit of Christmas. And I’ve been totally suckered by attempts at emotional manipulation by the ingenious copywriters at Adam & Eve, the communications agency behind this advert.
Come to think of it, John Lewis, rather Adam & Eve, always come up with
master class in emotional manipulation
tearjerkers. This one from last year shows the life cycle of a woman from birth to old age to the cover version (by Fyfe Dangerfield of The Guillemots) of Billy Joel’s “Always a Woman”.
The coruscation starts within three seconds of the 90-second advert. A woman picks up a baby and when she puts it down – surprise! – it’s become a toddler. The child climbs through the tunnel and – what?? – she’s already at school. Then suddenly it’s her sixth birthday and she’s blowing out the candles… on her 18th birthday cake. But what’s this? Is she getting married? Nooooo, she’s pregnant! Hang on, she’s a grandmother! Life goes on, painfully, beautifully, unstoppably: marriage, babies, work, grand parenting, sunny retirement years. Moving, literally and figuratively, no? It sure had me sobbing into my breakfast bowl… :-p