With Halloween and Bonfire Night now swept aside, the annual onslaught of slightly premature Christmas advertising has begun.
Potentially the most highly anticipated of all, this year’s festive offering from John Lewis was viewed over 4 million times in the first 24 hours of release on YouTube, but plenty of other well known companies have a good go at winning the title of most loved/heart warming/funniest Christmas advert.
Here is Her Campus Exeter’s rundown of the biggest/best adverts of 2014…
1) John Lewis
Most people’s number one Christmas advert 2014 will be John Lewis. Over the last five years they’ve produced some crackers and this year have stayed with their tried and tested theory of adorable child paired with old song covered by an upcoming pop star (this year’s is Tom Odell singing John Lennon offcut, ‘Real Love’.) No one speaks, the story is told just through the pictures and the song: “Just like little girls and boys / playing with their little toys / seems that all we really were doing / was waiting for love.”
Very cute it is too, although we can’t help feeling that the fact we’ve become a nation who frequently weep at Christmas adverts is all a little worrying…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iccscUFY860
2) ) Sainsbury’s
Now, we’re all used to John Lewis pulling out all the stops for their Christmas ad, which makes the beauty that is Sainsbury’s ‘Christmas is for Sharing’ advert even sweeter. Poignantly collaborating with the Royal Legion as part of the centenary commemorations of World War One, we watch the tale of the men who stopped fighting for just one day in order to play football together and swap gifts…
All proceeds from the chocolate bar featured in the advert go to the British Royal Legion. It’s all rather lovely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM&feature=youtu.be
3) Coca Cola
The fizzy drinks company has claimed, possibly ambitiously, that one in five people in Britain thought Christmas started with the traditional Coca-Cola truck advert. Although I hope we still believe it starts with the first Sunday of Advent, they certainly did go a long way in cementing the idea that Father Christmas is a man who would be seen sporting a red, rather than green coat.
Their 2014 advert is actually remarkably similar to Marks and Spencers in that various people are seen undertaking kind acts: a policeman gives a homeless man a meal, a businessman hands over his umbrella to a mother in the street, whilst Andy Williams’ Make Someone Happy; a known tear jerker plays on in the background. Whilst the finished product may be overly sugary, it’s actually rather touching and effective.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzAdl56QcC0
4) At number four comes an unexpected offering from Mulberry. In recent years, most of the major companies have gone down the tear jerking/heart warming route and so Mulberry’s contribution acts as a spot of much needed light relief as they lay bare undercurrents of family competitive gift-giving…
A younger sister presents her spoilt older sister with a portrait, the mother gives her a special puppy in a box and her unbearably smug boyfriend, a unicorn. However, grandma then staggers across the room and hands over a parcel which turns out to be a Mulberry bag…
‘Thank you, Grandma. Oh my God, yes, yes,’ screams the Spoilt Girl, all other gifts swept aside and yes, the Mulberry bayswater bag in question is very gorgeous. Sadly, however, I don’t feel it will convince our parents to fork out over a grand on us this Christmas…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK0fKEvgXJo
5) And finally, we have M&S. Something of a marathon of a Christmas advert at 1:40, two sexy fairies in faux fur coats altruistically gifting a cross-dressing man a new bra, lavish a would-be Cinderella with new dresses and encourage two strangers twitching with sexual tension to fall in love. The advert is beautifully filmed, with lots of tempting M&S treats (their underwear is always a winner!), but I can’t help but feel that this pair may have become just a tad annoying by December 24…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhuadZHqwwA
So girls, who has your vote?
Photo Credits:
huffingtonpost.co.uk
thetimes.co.uk
dailymail.co.uk
express.co.uk