Does Christmas commercialisation wind you up?

I must also confess to having crate-loads of Christmas lights, but they don’t come out before 20 December.

Until the advent of affordable LED lights, it used to take me a month to get them all working again 🙂

The spend on the Xmas Ad creations is monumental. They’re more mini-dramas, now, than simply ads. But I’m not sure it was, as you suggest, just marketing genius. More likely that most folk love Xmas, love the feelings associated with the entire period and, probably most importantly, enjoy well-made television. Entertainment is the fastest growing business in the modern world for good reason: we enjoy being distracted, often from high-pressure jobs, family problems, financial worries and much more. The best of the Xmas ads are truly memorable – quite often because they’re not selling something directly, only evoking an emotional response. This year’s JL ad is an excellent example.

And, as a corollary to that, it’s worth remembering that all outstanding ad campaigns have become features in their own right. Most recently, the meerkat ads and, earlier, Heineken and those superb ads by Ridley Scott. We’re suckers for well-made entertainment.

Oh, I’m sure a lot of genius was employed throughout the process. My argument, though, was more or less what you’ve said in your final sentence: combing huge spend with a season in which folk actively want distractions and entertainment has combined with the explosion in social media to produce the current situation. In other words, the ‘event’ status which you credit to Marketing I suspect is more a social phenomenon. Great benefit to the ad companies, of course, but led by the insatiable desire for distraction on the part of ordinary folk. It’s a bit chicken and egg: which came first – the collective delight in the sparking quality of the Xmas ads, or the Xmas ads’ marketing to make them such scintillating yet ephemeral objects of desire?

I suppose I sometimes suspect that Marketing is often credited far more than is deserved.

I can clearly remember what I consider to be one of the cleverest Christmas marketing campaigns ever. It was roundabout 2002 or 2003 and was for Woolworths. The ad featured a visitor from outer space who, while remarking on the “breathable air”, went into a Woolworth’s store and was amazed by the variety and attractiveness of the products on sale. The animation, music, lyrics, and storyline were all brilliant with very compact execution [probably only 30 sec], and it captured the unique Woolworth image and product range perfectly. I did have it recorded on a VHS cassette but it went in one of the clear-outs and I have since looked for it on-line without success. It was a triumph of marketing and creative genius and way ahead of its time – in more ways than one.

Fantastic!

Well, you made me do it. You made me make a Christmas related comment the Feature Comment on the homepage. And I hate early Christmas, but your song is gold. 🔔

You’re all very kind. Contributions in plain brown envelopes, please… 😇 😉

Thank you, Andrew.

I agree, Maisie. The first of December is early enough. Have a look at the mince pies on sale early in shops’ festive season and the ‘Best Before’ date will be before Christmas.

Well said Beryl.

We were quite uplifted to see a huge and beautifully decorated artificial Christmas tree standing in Tesco’s where the fireworks booth had been this last few weeks. The remnants of a left-over pumpkin were scattered around the car park as though it had been used for goal practice. All signs that the Christmas season is well and truly open.

However, reflecting on what Beryl has said, there should be a bit more sensitivity – there are still two more days to go until Armistice Day. I would suggest that Christmas should wait until the 12th of November. That still leaves plenty of time.

Obviously, because of the severe austerity we are experiencing at this time, it will be a particularly parsimonious Christmas this year and the stores should not be expecting a bumper spend. Nevertheless, it is so competitive out there in retail-land that they are all vying for whatever they can catch and are elbowing their way into our living rooms with their dire commercials which will run for weeks on end.

Hi Duncan, that’s mysterious. I can’t find what you’re referring to. It could be we had a spam comment (which we sometimes get – please report them if you see them!) that’s now been removed. Or perhaps it’s something else. Can you still see it? Could you tell me exactly where it appeared? Thanks

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This comment was removed at the request of the user