Despite being a high street pharmacy, Boots does tend to veer into the whimsical and wonderful for its festive ads — which is possibly why its latest offering looks so much like a Shrek spinoff.
What says Christmas, one might argue, like Puss in Boots dressed in a Santa costume, hitting up the chemist for some perfumes? Well indeed — and so that’s exactly what we’re getting here.
It’s all pretty Ronseal. Puss has been invited to the Snow Queen’s Ball, so of course he needs presents to get his princesses (and token prince charming) looking glam. In this version of the fairy tales, he’s the house cat to three leading ladies from the classics plus one random hot bloke in a crown.
He’s a cheapskate, but hey, maintaining a bevy of royal cuties is expensive. As for why he’s wearing that snazzy all-red ensemble, including a little white neck ruff… well, perhaps it’s better not to think about these things too hard.
What better option, therefore, than to ask the magic mirror where’s good, and then set off on an odyssey to a quasi-medieval market town which happens to boast a Boots with a makeup counter and electricity. If I were a peasant, I would be freaking out about the lighting rather than a No7 Pro Artist Lip Duo Set, but there we go. Understandably, there isn’t much room for meta commentary in a minute-long Christmas advert.
Booty duly acquired, Puss heads home to gift ‘Snowy’, ‘Repunz’ and ‘Cinders’ the requisite perfumes, lippy, hair styling devices — plus a light-up (non-magic) mirror for the un-named prince. To be honest, that bit was all pretty standard, and left room in my head for thoughts like, ‘Why does Puss in Boots have a west country accent?’ and ‘Isn’t it a bit boring to be giving women beauty products?’
I wasn’t sold until the final 15 seconds of the ad, where the swagged-up party hits up the Snow Queen’s (presumably Elsa from Frozen, but also not for copyright reasons) castle while paparazzi bulbs flash and the courtiers look on in awe. The Queen gets a pair of heat-pack handwarmers for her present, and apparently that’s enough to thaw her chilly demeanour.
The whole thing closes out with a massive dance party, to the tune of Duran Duran’s Girls on Film and the tagline Gift Happy Ever After. It was pleasingly unexpected enough to make me chuckle – it’s not a vintage ad by any means, but it bears re-watching, and the ending redeems it somewhat.
Next time, though, maybe hire Antonio Banderas for the voice acting?
