Of course, it's got Ellie Goulding's heartbreakingly understated take on Elton John's "Your Song" How could you not look up from your laptop, BlackBerry or general electronic multitasking, and find yourself suddenly, completely engrossed in the TV screen – just as you used to be, back in the days before Wi-Fi? How could you not become a little moist-eyed, on first watching? And weirdly, even more so on the second?
It's a work of art, that advert. A Spielberg version of a commercial, which manipulates a viewer's emotions in as deft and effortless a fashion as is conceivable, leaving you (me, all of us) a sodden mess of sentimentality and warmed-through-cockles. It's a damned triumph!
I applaud Mr. Lewis, for capturing the pure essence of Christmas within his 2011 advert. Dominant colors such as deep-glowing reds and intensifying greens act as a form of ‘cultural iconography’. Although very concealed, these subliminal icons subtly remind us of Christmas and the stereotypical links we make with colors (such as red) and the holiday itself. Moreover, there are a number of ‘long shots’ within the ad, which simply convey information about the location each character was in (a library, the living room, a garage etc.) This particular shot is a brilliant tool to use, especially because they denote a change in location; which commonly occurred in the advert.
Not only this, it confirms that John Lewis’s production agency: Adam & Eve have created a hit on a compelling new format here: a nice, simple, middle-class narrative goes jolly well with a hauntingly rendered version of a classic song; particularly when the actual point of ads (Go on! Buy our stuff!) has been completely eliminated from the proceedings.
John Lewis isn't about selling things, according to this ad. It's about life. It's about love. At a push, it's about giving things to other people, but it's certainly not about coveting, or receiving, or the ugly frenzy of consuming, heavens no!
All of which makes us look very fondly upon the brand; fondly enough to ensure that its profits continue to rise (by 10%, apparently, in the second week of November alone), and never mind the economic crisis right now…
