This is the time of year when many of our large supermarkets produce Christmas advertisements, full of photos of food, parties, food, presents, shopping and more food. They are very commercial and there is rarely any mention of what many of us believe is the true meaning of Christmas.
Some years ago John Lewis, an old and very reputable store , produced their Christmas offering, 'The Hare and the Bear'. It was a truly lovely production, full of wild animals being kind to each other, snow, tiny presents, Christmas tree etc.
This year the theme of their film is 'Dementia' and is very sad.
The advertisement which has made me both angry and disappointed is by one of our favourite stores, who advocate family values. I'm not going to give the name in case I'm accused of libel/slander whatever. It is a truly appalling, cynical and unpleasant offering and has already caused lots of negative comments.
The theme seems to be 'I'm going to be as nasty as possible this 'Thismas'. It focuses on 'celebrities' (no, don't know any of them)
We have a woman browning the marshmallows, who with a glint in her eye turns the torch on the unwritten Christmas cards and burns the lot. We have a bored man who can hardly bear to put his child's decoration on the tree, (shrug, well if I really have to..') And worst of all we have a woman standing on a roof (why?) belting the poor much loved Christmas elf into the stratosphere. She then trips down and dumps the decorations into a wood chipper, always so handy to have around. Finally she picks up the rather battered Elf and with a steely smile looks towards the woodchipper. Children will cry.
There are so many beautiful images of Christmas, even if purely commercial. Why this?
Obviously this is all my personal opinion, others may disagree. That's fine.
UPDATE, THIS MORNING!
M&S apologises and pulls Christmas ad after it's branded 'disgusting'©Provided by MetroMarks & Spencer has apologised for an advert in which Christmas party hats in the colour of the Palestine flag were thrown into the fire. The company’s Christmas Clothing and Home advert, starring Hannah Waddingham of Ted Lasso fame, urged people to do away with Christmas traditions they no longer love (Picture
24 comments:
That's horrible. Yes, why?
This is very upsetting. I cannot even imagine what kind of hearts they have to even think of advertising in such a way. Regardless, we will continue to have a beautiful Christmas, bringing light and cheer to a darkened world.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the ad, and then again when I saw the store logo at the end! Made me very cross with them. Poor choices by ad agency and the store itself.
So disappointing and tasteless and depraved. Yes, why go ugly instead of picturing the beautiful.
Yes, I agree with other comments. Unnecessary, tasteless, horrible - very poor choices. There is enough cruelty and wanton destruction in the world right now without that store adding to it. What happened to their "Magic and Sparkle"?
How dreadful it sounds. I love watching the Christmas advertisements from GB - they are usually so lovely and hearttouching, or humorous in a gentle way. If they are trying to raise awareness of dementia, then focus on beauty and softness rather than ugliness.
All is going so strange nowadays.
I looked it up..you can see it on www.thedrum.com where more adverts are to be viewed.
I get the message on the one you mentioned but I totally agree that is so negatively brought. Shame!
Oh my! I totally agree with you. Christmas is such a lovely time of the year, but I guess the bottom line is that we live in a fallen world and as time goes on it will only get worse. Thank you for sharing this with us.
So ugly and inappropriate for any season but especially Christmas. Personally I would boycott that store and encourage my family and friends to do likewise. ( Maybe even phone the manager and tell him/her how I felt).
I have an ad blocker on my laptop, so I don't see any advertisements, but it still saddens me to read about this.
What on earth was this company thinking of?? There are enough horrible things happening in the world why not show the good that can be found in one of the most joyous times of the year.
God Bless.
That's terrible, why do they want to turn a beautiful holiday into something so ugly? It's very sad. But things like that won't steal my joy, it's a great time of year and we just need to focus and celebrate the true reason for the season, the birth of our Lord.
This is the work of the enemy. The enemy hates beauty. Everything God created is beautiful and the enemy wants to ruin it all. But take heart, the battle has already been won!
Jo
That is horrid! I hope they get plenty of pushback for their truly insulting advertising. Is this supposed to make their business look attractive?
I noticed during the ad break in " All Creatures Great And Small" that they had the Dawn French Christmas fairy, flitting around M&S Christmas food. All a bit daft, but better than their 'main' Christmas ad.
The hat situation with the Palestine flag colours was simply bad timing, they do reflect our Christmas colours. I think too many companies in a bid to stand out are making tonge in cheek ads, I say bring back Dawn French.
Oh my! I haven't seen this ad & I'm glad they pulled it! It seems people have just gone crazy. Those in the corporate world, the media & government seem so out of touch with what matters to ordinary people. I cannot imagine what kind of crazy people would actually sit down & plan out an ad like that ..... did they even consider how offensive it was?
I hope you can find peaceful, uplifting, happy signs of the Christmas season this year.
well it's good that they pulled it as clearly it offended many although. obviously Christmas hats in traditional red and green colours have nothing to do with the Middle East situation but I can see how in this current climate some would be concerned about the possible interpretation of the ad.
I am happy to see they pulled it. Terrible advertising in my opinion.
God bless.
Well, that's wonderful news! Thank you for the update!
Oh my goodness, it sounds absolutely awful. Sadly there seems to be a trend of negativity out there. Thankfully I know many who feel the same as me, put some goodness and positivity into the world. A continuous and tiny ripple of kindness can travel far. I am new to your blog. I look forward to visiting again.
Very poor advertising by such a big and well known company. I'm glad it got removed.
We need so much more kindness, respect and love towards each other, especially right now.
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