JAN MOIR: The best John Lewis festive TV advert in years

by · Mail Online

Did the new John Lewis Christmas advert make me cry this year? Readers, I have to confess a yes. But I cry at anything these days, from cute puppies on TikTok to Angela Rayner’s trouser suits.

For better or worse, the ad is out today, which means that the official countdown to Christmas has begun and it’s mince pie madness from now until Boxing Day.

This year’s effort, made by Saatchi and Saatchi, features a Sensible Older Sister called Sally who is dashing about the John Lewis flagship store in London’s Oxford Street, trying to find a last-minute present for her younger sister. Here is Sally, looking bossy in her oatmeal Fair Isle sweater, as she falls through a rack of dresses.

To her surprise, she enters a family Narnia and embarks upon a magical timeline that switches back and forth through their sisterly lives together.

From girlhood to squabbling teendom, to a moment when Lil Sis is pregnant and her waters break on Christmas Eve when she is playing charades in a lime green body-con dress – I think I’ve got that right – Big Sis Sal is there to help, just like she has always been.

For those of us lucky enough to have sisters, it’s an emotional celebration of sororal bonds. For others, it’s still a relatable celebration of family and of love, even if, for two whole minutes, viewers are exposed to the usual sly barrage of John Lewis products woven into the storyline.

Did the new John Lewis Christmas advert make me cry this year? Readers, I have to confess a yes, writes Jan Moir 
The heartwarming commercial transports viewers on a magical journey that follows a sister's (pictured) emotional quest for the perfect Christmas gift
During the joyful advert, the lead character Sally (pictured right) races into a John Lewis' Oxford Street flagship store just before closing time after leaving it a little late to find the right present for her sibling
In a The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe-inspired moment, she falls through a rack of dresses and enters a fantastical world, stumbling out of an old wardrobe in the attic of her childhood home
From there, she undertakes a whimsical journey through her memories as she urgently searches for the best gift for her beloved sister (pictured left)

In this year’s artful conveyor belt of commerce there are cuddly toys galore, an attractive armchair, leather trousers, sofas, mugs and a nice camel coat.

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But hold it right there. For what this advert doesn’t have – in any meaningful way, shape or form – is any men. Repeat. Not One Man. This is not only absolutely marvellous, but it’s also unusually refreshing and honest.

Far too many festive advertising campaigns feature joyful men skipping about trilling yo-ho-ho, trimming the tree and wrapping presents with enthusiasm before saying no dear, let me lay the table, are the robin napkins starched and the cards written, stamped and sent? Leave it to me, darling, I insist.

What a joke, because we all know most of them don’t even know where the Sellotape is from one year to the next and their idea of getting into the Christmas spirit is to become Scrooge. John Lewis’s blast of festive realism is a welcome change.

And this year’s advert, which is called The Gifting Hour and is accompanied by songwriter Richard Ashcroft of The Verve, plinking away at his wispy ballad, Sonnet, also marks a welcome return to form for John Lewis in the Christmas campaign stakes.

For it has finally broken free from the pious hokum of recent years, which usually had some revolting little boy in jimjams and a bobble hat, trying to batter some vague, unspecified message of Christmas giving and sharing into the callous ranks of unfeeling British shoppers. Not always very effectively.

In one particularly tear-jerking scene (pictured), Sally comes across her late mother and shares a brief festive moment with her
Sally also breaks out into an argument with a teenager version of her sister over the borrowing of a top, in another nostalgic part of the advert
It begins with the heroine, Sally, rushing into the store to find her sister a present - only to fall through a rack of dresses and begin a magical journey through her memories. She's greeted by a younger version of her sister (pictured), who helps her find the perfect present along the way as she revisits different scenes from her life
The advert is equally filled with light-hearted moments - including the two sisters enjoying a skate around an ice rink (pictured) before breaking into laughter as they fall onto a sofa
Having found the best present, with it ready and wrapped, Sally then heads outside and has a special moment with her sister who will be the gift's recipient
As they walk away we see her sister reflected in the John Lewis window as the child from her memories

Who could forget last year’s much derided offering, which featured a Venus flytrap called Snapper vomiting presents at a puzzled family while Andrea Botticelli bellowed in Italian over the top.

It was a disaster – made even more insulting by the fact that John Lewis sold the fuzzy felt toy versions of the flytraps in their stores.

What was that all about? It’s alright to be different? Sing if you are glad to be gay? No one knew for sure. 

The year before we were treated to a father practising skateboarding so he could bond with the child he and his wife were adopting for Christmas. 

Very worthy – but there is a fine line between well-intentioned and condescension, and this skated dangerously close to the latter.

The ad - titled The Gifting Hour - ends with the strapline: 'The secret to finding the perfect gift? Knowing where to look.'
In a first for the brand, a John Lewis store takes a starring role in the campaign, while singer-songwriter Richard Ashcroft provides the emotive soundtrack with his ballad, Sonnet

2021 brought an alien in a spaceship experiencing Christmas for the first time and being thrilled by the gift of a light-up sweater, while 2020 had a claymation celebration of neighbourliness accompanied by a treacly song by Celeste, earnestly wondering about ‘wouldn’t it be wonderful if everybody gave a little love?’.

It certainly would. With winning little performances from two charming actresses and a simple message about the right gift not needing to be an expensive one, this is John Lewis’s best and most heartwarming effort for years. No men! No kids!

That’s the kind of Christmas I love, never knowingly undersold or not.