John Lewis, a company known for their excellence in story-driven seasonal advertising campaigns, have shocked audiences this year with an unusual and surprising variation on their emotive advertisements.
Their 2025 advert focuses on generational differences and the music that can bond fathers with their sons. Many people were impressed with the deep and emotional weight of the advert, compared with other recent Christmas adverts from Aldi and Waitrose – who seem to be competing for the ‘most talked about’ Christmas advert. Nearly every company does this, and these adverts can feel like a cashgrab, appealing to the fact that we are going to talk about interesting ones, even if they lack substance. And people really do talk about Christmas adverts. I’ve had three quite natural conversations about these adverts in the last few days, without even mentioning that I’m writing a blog on them.
Most years there really is no competition. Typically, the John Lewis Christmas advert is regarded as the standout advert. From the emotional The Long Wait (2011) where an anxious boy is, unexpectedly, excited to give a gift to his parents, rather than open his own gifts on Christmas morning, to The Boy and The Piano (2018) featuring the musical star, Elton John.
But how have audiences responded this year, and are their advertising campaigns still carrying the UK’s Christmas spirit?
John Lewis’ Where Love Lives
The John Lewis advert showcases a father, with his past firmly rooted in the 1990’s, and implies what he has let go of (music, partying, freedom?) when taking on the responsibility of parenthood. There is however a clear sense of emotional distance between him and his son. In the present day, his son offers a touching gesture: a record of Where Love Lives by Alison Limerick, allowing him to reconnect with a part of who he once was.The two then embrace and share a moment of bonding over the music as the record is played. (Well, after this dad has had some trance-esque memories of the 90’s nightclub, with his son there with him).
Almost as soon as the advert was released, a storm of meme’s was posted on social media, inserting photos of illicit drugs into the scenes, making a joke out of the advert. It’s hard to imagine the creators of this advert being unaware of the fact that the public would react to the advert in this way. The link is subtle, but it’s hard not to think about in the broader context of the advert. Since the 1990’s were a big time for rave culture and ecstasy was a huge part of that, visible in films like Human Traffic (1999), it remains a common association for people who lived through the era.
There is however a bigger theme in the advert about masculinity and how men, particularly fathers and sons, communicate. They can struggle, so here they’re letting gifts say the things they won’t (or aren’t able to) say out loud. I think this son’s gift is supposed to say: ‘Thanks for being my dad. I recognise the life you had before parenthood and the changes you made for me’ which really is quite a lot for a 90’s club tune to say. But the advert pulls off this impressive feat.
The campaign appeals to a generation of younger parents who grew up clubbing in the 90’s, while listening to electronic music. They are now part of a different generation, one where their own children are getting older. Ollie Agius and Pete Loulianou, the two co-creators of the campaign were reportedly ‘blown away by the reaction’ of the public to the advert, most of whom reacted incredibly positively. There were its critics, as there always will be when a campaign is so completely different to what’s come before. While some people reported crying at the emotional weight of the John Lewis advert, the reactions were admittedly mixed with one Metro reader claiming it was ‘definitely not Christmassy.’
Waitrose’s The Perfect Gift
By contrast Waitrose’s The Perfect Gift takes an altogether different approach with their own high budget campaign featuring Kiera Knightly and Joe Wilkinson. The advert highlights the importance of cooking for loved ones at Christmas time. It contains an emotional theme, with it being suggested at the start of the advert that Joe Wilkinson’s character is still grieving over the loss of his partner. Of the three, it’s by far the funniest, pitting Joe Wilkinson cooking a Christmas turkey pie against Mark, his rival, who Wilkinson competes with for the attention of Kiera Knightly (who turns out to be her brother!). It has the humour of an off-beat indie comedy like Richard Ayode’s Submarine (2017) but talk of it online has been somewhat overshadowed by the advert created by John Lewis – whose parent company own Waitrose.
Aldi returns ‘Kevin the Carrot’
Meanwhile, Aldi have reunited with the popular long running character – Kevin the Carrot. This multi-part campaign focuses on Kevin’s Christmas time engagement and wedding to ‘Katie the Carrot.’ They have gone for a less emotional campaign than John Lewis and Waitrose. I don’t think anyone is likely to tear up at the prospect that Kevin might not make it back from his stag-do adventure, but the advert itself offers a good blend of humour and will excite fans of Kevin the Carrot (who is now available as a large plush teddy). Bringing back a popular character like that is a good example of using nostalgia in marketing, particularly to people who have enjoyed the mascot since it first appeared.
The emotive pull of Christmas adverts
Most of these adverts hit on one thing: emotion. Whether that be in the form of a cartoon carrots wedding or the bond between a father and son - or how cooking for each other brings us together. In an age dominated by artificial intelligence, fears that creative decisions in marketing and advertising are all going to be mechanised and automated; it shows, more than anything, that we still need human input in how we market products and brands.
They show that pulling at an audience’s heartstrings works better than anything. This is made clear given the overwhelmingly positive reaction that the John Lewis 2025 advert received (even the memes). It shows people are still hungering for something raw and human.
So, does the annual John Lewis Christmas advert still carry the nation's heart? The short answer is yes. This year it surprised us, while retaining the brand's reputation for excellence and emotional storytelling. They certainly haven’t undersold this time. The release of the advert is also the first thing on many peoples' calendars that signals Christmas is close (long after we all try to avoid supermarkets starting to put up festive stuff in October).
