Christmas cheer isn't for everyone. Everyone's got an uncle who would rather watch a Ken Burns documentary than pull crackers. Who'd settle for Mariah Carey when you can have something more subdued from Gustav Mahler?
This year, as British retailer John Lewis releases its annual holiday ad, some of its retail competitors appear to have caught a winter chill. They're running spots that reference the stresses of the season — and the current state of the world — as much as they do turkey and stuffing.
Supermarket Asda's holiday ad features night shift workers cut off by snowy weather. Retailer Matalan's focuses on the gap between Christmas as it's presented for Instagram, and the stressful reality for parents. And grocer Tesco's shows a grieving family going through their first holiday season without a beloved grandmother.
Though plenty of “weepy” ads have run before (in 2018, for example, John Lewis used its Christmas spot to screen an emotional mini biopic of singer Elton John), they haven't been as closely grounded in everyday issues as some of the ads in this year's lineup.
So, while they're not quite as serious as Ken Loach films, they are departures from typical tinsel and carol-singing holiday fare. The first shot of Tesco's ad, “Feed Your Christmas Spirit,” starts off at a bleak-looking gasworks, for example.
There's good reason for that. Economic anxiety among consumers is rife on both sides of the Atlantic, while last week's U.S. election will have left (more or less) half the country dismayed going into December.
“We've got a new government. A lot of our customers just had their [winter fuel allowance] taken away from them. A lot of our customers are trying to bring up a family,” said Vicki Maguire, chief creative officer at Havas London, the agency behind Asda's campaign.
The holidays represent a key trading period for grocers and retailers in the U.K. and U.S. American brands to release holiday spots this year include Gap, Target, Etsy, Sephora, Old Navy, Ugg, Amazon and jeweler Tiffany & Co., among others.
Supermarkets in particular depend on their performance through the season. In 2023, Tesco pulled in $28.9 million (£22.8 million) in the fourth quarter, which included Christmas — a huge chunk of the company's overall $78 million (£61.4 million) in retail revenue for that year.
In Britain, advertisers are set to unleash the largest rise in seasonal ad spend since records began in 1982, according to the Advertising Association and WARC. Brand media spending will reach $13.7 billion (£10.5 billion) this year, up 7.8% on 2023.
Despite the commercial importance of the season, Maguire said brand marketers behind national brands, particularly grocers, must be aware of their customers' concerns. “[Asda] are literally at the cutting edge of every cost of living crisis. Every time Britain has to pull in its belt their customers, arguably, feel it first,” she said.
Jordan McDowell,
