A word on the 2013 John Lewis advert
How the day of the premiere of the annual John Lewis Christmas advert is yet to be designated a national holiday is somewhat confusing to me. The past two years have seen myself and my friends gather around a computer screen, tucked into blankets, lights off, PJs on with an absolutely no-talking-under-any-circumstance policy. I can hardly say that I was surprised when one of them brought a bowl of popcorn up last year, as though we were about to watch the Titanic for the very first time (-a film which, in comparison to the previous John Lewis campaigns, is an emotional walk in the park).
The department store is famous for creating emotional connections between the characters and the viewer, as opposed to focusing on store product. To say they did a good job in their 2011 and 2012 attempts would be an understatement; whilst I genuinely still get teary merely thinking about the kid of ’11 who just wanted to give his parents a present, I can safely say that the creator of the 2012 snowmen ‘Journey’ made Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ look like a feeble, lazy and mundane attempt at a love story.
With all this praise and the usual hype surrounding the campaign, you can imagine my disappointment when I saw this years advert. For those who have not seen it, here is the plot in a nutshell: after giving a hare a piggy back, a big bear goes to sleep and is then woken up by a selfishly placed alarm clock on (what I assume) is Christmas day. He walks over a hill and there’s a big Christmas tree surrounded by animals and covered in lights. The bear and hare are both happy.
Frankly, a two-minute film of me untangling a necklace would probably have been more potent.
This year I did not watch the advert in my usual girly, comfortable and early evening setting, content, warm and ready for a good cry. Instead, it was 5am on a Sunday morning. I had attended a Fab that admittedly I should not have given my impending (and untouched) Monday deadline. After losing my key I wound up with some friends, who, unlike my stressed self, had no work to do the next day and so were in high spirits. Amongst them were three rugby boys who had decided that getting through a crate of 24 beers between them before they could sleep was a necessary thing to do. I was freezing. I was tired. I was stressed. If anyone was going to cry at the John Lewis advert at that moment in time, it was me.
But, much to my dismay, there was nothing. As much as I wanted to cry, not a single tear was shed. I couldn’t even produce a fake one for the sake of it. As such an avid fan of the department stores Christmas series I remain distraught and will share just a few of reasons as to why it was so disappointing:
1. It probably didn’t help that I didn’t know bears hibernated. Call me clueless, but if the life cycle of an endangered animal is necessary in order to ‘get’ next years advert, I suggest you all start researching the Sumatran Orangutan now.
2. Bears and hares don’t get on. Bears eat hares. That’s not Christmassy.
3. If there was ever a worst present to get someone for Christmas it was probably an alarm clock; who ever likes being woken up by them?! If someone to play such a cruel and thoughtless trick on me following a big night out, I be more likely to kick off than happily remove myself from my bed and thank whoever did it for the wonderful gesture.
4. Lily Allen is just a bit annoying.
5. The bear was obviously tired and after researching I have learnt that it is unhealthy for them to be woken up from their hibernation unnaturally. Nice one Hare, you’ve killed the bear.
6. It’s not an advert; although I accept that the store’s campaigns are all about the emotion, I experienced little to none of that in this year’s attempt. Giving them the benefit of the doubt I re-watched it as a sales pitch. Yeah, I’m still in no rush to buy their Le Creuset casserole dish in midnight blue.
The only positive that I can take from this year’s advert is that I am definitely going to enjoy next year’s more! However, whilst we await something a bit more heart-wrenching, I suggest that you have a listen of Danny Dyer’s take on the bear and the hare. Although I never thought I’d say this, he’s absolutely nailed it…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…