It must have been love, but it’s over now…

An ugly looking toy lies on the floor. He’s called Ray. He sings a depressing song lamenting the fact he is no longer loved. There’s a depressing looking dog watching on. Then Ray gets hit by a truck.

This is the Christmas ad from the toy shop, The Entertainer and we’re a bit confused. Not only is it really depressing, but also, in our humble opinion, it’s also anti-Christmas. After all, doesn’t it call out the blatant consumerism which engulfs the true meaning of Christmas? Isn’t it just pointing out, it’s completely ludicrous buying your children the latest toys as by next year they will just be left unwanted and discarded?

But in a lot of ways this ad perfectly sums up this year’s Christmas ad offering. Boring, predictable, and a little bit questionable. In fact, we can honestly say we can’t single out a standout Christmas ad this year. Don’t believe us. Then read on.

Has John Lewis finally jumped the shark?

Capturing the hearts of the nation, the John Lewis Christmas ad has become as much an integral part of Christmas as roast turkey and cranberry sauce. For many, the first airing of their ad marks the moment when the Eggnog gets cracked open, and the tree can go up.

We’ve had a man learning to skateboard to make his new foster-daughter feel welcome, a dragon struggling to control his flaming nostrils but finally finding acceptance, a hare helping his friend the bear see Christmas for the first time. So, what on earth happened this year?

Well, quite simply The Gifting Hour is about the one thing John Lewis Christmas ads should never be about. Shopping. We see a woman frantically searching for the ideal gift for her sister. At least we think that’s what she’s doing as all the convoluted timey wimey stuff is a bit confusing.

And just to make it a bit easier for her to find the perfect gift, it’s set in a branch of, yes, you guessed it, John Lewis. So, not only are we told what they sell, we even know what their shops look like.

Admittedly, we have commented before that Christmas ads of bygone years focused much more on selling products and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. But this is John Lewis we’re talking about! We don’t want products. We want a heart-wrenching message à la Man in the Moon. We want to listen to a mawkish slow downed cover version of a famous track such as in The Feeling.  We want emotion, and tears and bucket loads of sentimentality. Hello, Monty the Penguin.

Maybe this year’s offering appealed to some people (probably women, as there are no men in it!) but for us it just missed the mark, but then at least John Lewis tries different things, which leads us nicely on to…

A distinct lack of imagination

Don’t get us wrong. Having a theme which helps your brand be recognisable isn’t a bad thing. And we are all for sticking with a tried and tested formula. But the M&S Christmas ad isn’t its best. Yes, they have expanded on the M&S Christmas Fairy theme by adding in the real-life voice of the Fairy, Dawn French, but in some ways a Double Dawn French is simply too much Dawn French. It just feels like it’s the Dawn French show rather than an M&S ad.

Even the current Wallace and Gromit lovefest feels a bit like we have time-travelled back to the 1990s. If the Wallace and Gromit indents on the BBC weren’t enough, then we have Barbour and carol singing Shaun the Sheep with what looks like Gromit as the conductor.

We love a bit of nostalgia, and it is a big part of Christmas, but when it comes to advertising it’s a bit like buying socks as a Christmas present – it lacks imagination and feels distinctly lazy.

Having said that if you get the idea and execution right, it’s a whole new ballgame.  Aldi have rolled out Kevin the Carrot for the ninth consecutive time but have still managed to pull it off. It’s an animated epic that is fun, has some cheeky Carry On-esque asides, and if you watch carefully the not so law-abiding Cuthbert the Caterpillar has a cameo in a Santa hat. Now, that’s how you do it.

Way too much imagination

Sometimes brands try too hard and if you watch an ad and can’t actually work out what’s going on, or more importantly why, then it might just fall into that category. In Tesco’s ad everything turns into gingerbread. Hair clippings, a fox, people’s heads – all gingerbread, because the central character’s Gran is no longer around to make her traditional Christmas gingerbread house. It’s commendable that Tesco touches on how Christmas can bring both grief and joy, but it’s simply a bit too gingerbready.

And then in Disney’s ad there is a boy with an octopus on his head. Yep. That’s right. An octopus on his head. To be fair, if you make it through all 4 minutes of the ad, the words ‘The greatest journeys start with a dream’ pop up and it kind of makes sense, and yes, it is good old-fashioned storytelling, but even so. He has an octopus on his head.

But then as ever advertising, especially Christmas advertising, is subjective. What we think is rubbish others will herald as the greatest ad ever. What we love will be ridiculed by others.

But it just feels nothing has really stood out this year. Even Waitrose’s ‘Sweet Suspicion, which started so brilliantly, fell a little bit flat at the reveal. Maybe, we are expecting too much. Maybe the plethora of advertising throughout the year makes us immune. But then again you watch this ad from Deutsche Telekom and you realise that’s just not the case.

The reality is our ads this year just weren’t that good.