Christmas adverts from our favourite brands often mark the start of the festive celebrations every year.
Viewers flock to watch the annual offering from giants including John Lewis and Coca Cola, and many of them are tear-jerkers with piano-led ballads that eventually top the music charts.
But some Christmas adverts have sparked a fierce backlash for reasons including an allegedly stolen song, promoting booze to kids and for ruining the idea that Santa brings children their gifts from Lapland.
Other brands have been forced to defend themselves against vile racist abuse for featuring Black families.
Let's take a look at some of the biggest Christmas adverts scandals the festive season has weathered.
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Aldi's 'irresponsible' offering 'promotes alcohol to kids'
Aldi's "irresponsible" 2017 Christmas ad ended up getting banned after viewers complained it promoted alcohol to children.
The advert showed a computer-generated image of a carrot which said "I see dead parsnips", in a pastiche of a famous scene from 1999 supernatural horror film The Sixth Sense.
The ending of the ad showed the carrot being frightened by another character dressed up as a ghost with a white blanket over them, while scenes throughout showed various bottles of alcoholic spirits.
This sparked anger over claims it appealed to people under 18 who could not legally drink.
Aldi said Kevin the Carrot was supposed to be funny and was not designed to appeal specifically to under-18s, while the target audience for its Christmas campaign were adults.
The ad was rated 15 in the UK, and was restricted by clearance agency Clearcast for featuring alcohol - which meant it was not allowed to be screen during or around children's programmes.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said Kevin appeared to be childlike and had a high-pitched voice, similar to that of a young child, while the character was sold as a soft toy during the Christmas period.
It said the advert was read like a children's story and that the idea of Kevin being frightened by characters dressed up as ghosts was particularly funny for little children.
The ASA said: "We therefore considered that Kevin was likely to have strong appeal to audiences under the age of 18.
"Because of that, we considered the ad was likely to appeal strongly to people under 18 and given that it was promoting alcohol, we concluded was irresponsible."
An Aldi spokeswoman said in response: "We believe the content of this specific advert appealed to adults rather than children. The advert was also subject to broadcast restrictions so that it did not appear adjacent to any programmes aimed at under-18s.
"Nevertheless we will abide by the ASA's ruling on this matter."
John Lewis accused of 'stealing' song
John Lewis has been forced to deny claims its 2021 Christmas TV advert uses a song inspired by the artist The Portraits.
This year's campaign, which is titled The Unexpected Guest, sees space traveller Skye crash-land to earth, at the home of Nathan, 14, during the festive season and Nathan teaches Skye all of the Christmas traditions.
The two-minute advert is soundtracked by 20-year-old British singer-songwriter Lola Young, from South London, who performs her version of the song Together in Electric Dreams.
The song was originally released by Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder in 1984.
But Folk act The Portraits claim the advert's music is very close to their cover of the song, which they recorded last year.
The Portraits are a husband and wife duo, Lorraine and Jeremy Millington.
The Portraits said on Facebook that they had offered their version of song for consideration to John Lewis this year, but had had no response.
The artists said: "On the one hand, it feels like a vindication of our musical ideas. We can't pretend otherwise. On the other, it feels like a heartless betrayal of all that those musical ideas were being used to represent."
A John Lewis spokesperson said: "There’s no substance to the claims as the person contacted by email left at the start of the summer and had no involvement in this year's Christmas ad.
"The music that accompanies the ad is always the final element to be added and this year was chosen at the end of October. The creation of advertising and music is carried out solely by our agency and we are unable to read or consider ideas from other external or internal sources. "
The Mirror understands that the person The Portraits emailed at John Lewis had nothing to do with the Christmas advert and left the firm by the time that process started.
Buster the Boxer helps 'ruin' Santa for children
A 2016 advert from John Lewis landed the company in hot water when they were accused of "ruining" the idea of Father Christmas to children and causing difficult conversations for parents.
The advert featured adorable dog Buster the Boxer, who was desperate to jump on his six-year-old owner Bridget's new trampoline.
But it sparked outrage by showing Bridget's dad putting the trampoline up in the back garden, instead of Santa.
One viewer tweeted: "Dear John Lewis Advertising Ummmm - where's Father Christmas? #bustertheboxer This is a potential parenting nightmare. Thanks for that."
Another wrote: "Lovely advert @ johnlewis but how do I explain to my kids that dad built the trampoline and not santa !!!"
A third ranted: "Can someone at John Lewis come and explain to my kids why the dad is putting up the trampoline and not ruined xmas for loads of [families]."
A spokeswoman for John Lewis told The Mirror: "We're sure Father Christmas has also visited Bridget and Buster the night before, this is just an extra special gift from her parents because she loves to bounce."
Family targeted by racist hate
John Lewis bosses vowed to protect the cast of the brand's 2021 Christmas advert after they were hit by vile racist trolling.
The Unexpected Guest was hit with most fans, but some bigoted trolls slammed the company for being "too woke" for starring a Black family.
Others threatened to boycott John Lewis after hitting out at the brand's diversity.
After the backlash, customer director Claire Pointon, stated the company has a duty of care to protect the cast and condemned racist abuse.
She told the Metro : "We always have a duty of care to anyone who is in our adverts and one of the things myself and the rest of the team are really passionate about is casting on talent.
"That’s the first thing. We didn’t have any prescriptive points of view. We wanted to represent a modern Britain, quite frankly, and that’s our customer base.
"I think it’s shocking when you get that [racist abuse] and unfortunately you do get racist abuse on certain stuff.
"We have a duty of care and we would always take that [racist abuse] very seriously as a brand."
Similarly, a 2020 advert by Sainsbury's was accused of trying to be "woke" for featuring a Black family.
One of their three adverts followed the story of a Black British family reflecting on previous Christmases and sharing their hopes to be reunited this year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The heartwarming ad showed a montage of home video-style footage playing while the phone conversation between family members ensues in the present day.
But this led to some angry racists accusing the supermarket of "virtue signalling" - despite their second advert featuring a white family.
Sainsbury's addressed some of the comments made on social media and said they aim to be an "inclusive retailer".
They wrote: "At Sainsbury's, we want to be the most inclusive retailer.
"That's why, throughout all our advertising we aim to represent a modern Britain, which has a diverse range of communities. We have three stories of three different families in our advertising."
'Plug boy' is health and safety nightmare
In 2018, Sainbury's festive offering sparked 35 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority over health and safety concerns.
The sweet advert was about kids performing in the Christmas play, and features a little girl singing beautifully dressed as a star.
But one unlikely character in the ad won over the nation's hearts: a little boy dressed as a huge electrical plug who launched himself into the wall.
The ASA received 35 complaints over the ad, a spokesperson told the Mirror, as people claimed to have health and safety fears about kids emulating what they see in the ad by "playing with plug sockets".
The watchdog assessed the complaints and opted against launching an investigation, and Twitter users thought the complaints were "ridiculous".
One wrote: "People are ridiculous. #PlugBoy is awesome and kids need to be brought up to distinguish between what's fiction and reality."
Another wrote: "OK. Who complained about Plug Kid?? Why are you trying to ruin Christmas?"
"Whoever complained about sainsburys Christmas ad and the cute plug boy clearly has TOO much time on their hands," remarked a third.
Coca-Cola 'uses' indigenous people
In 2015, Coca-Cola was branded 'racist' over a misjudged Christmas advert intended to unite communities.
Critics blasted the commercial, which was released in Mexico and was designed to encourage cooperation between marginalised groups.
Inspired by the Christmas theme of giving, it centred on a trip to the indigenous community of Totontepec and shows young people working to erect a Coca-Cola branded wooden tree.
But the concept infuriated groups who insisted it reinforced racial stereotypes.
The advert showed young people driving to a location, carrying ice buckets filled with Coke. As the youngsters sip on the fizzy drink, locals gather to see the tree lit up.
The intention of the advert was to encourage people to "break down prejudice and share".
It stated: "This Christmas a group of young people decided to give something very special to the indigenous community of Totontepec de Morelos in Oaxaca. You, too, open your heart."
The advert then went on to add that 81.6% of Mexico’s indigenous people feel marginalised because they don't speak Spanish as a first language before showing the words "We will stay united" in the Mixe language.
But one viewer wrote on Twitter: "When a company as big as Coco-Cola is saying #AbreTuCorazon by giving Coco-Cola to indigenous people. What they are really doing is using them."
Another added: "Coca-Cola's Mexican advert – colonial in implication, racist against indigenous ppl #AbreTuCorazon."
Interest group The Alliance for Food Health called on the National Council to Prevent Discrimination to ban the ad.
Diana Turner, a spokeswoman for Consumer Power, which belongs to the alliance, said: "It’s outrageous for the indigenous."
In response, the company removed the advert from its YouTube channel and issued a statement.
A Coca-Cola spokesman said: "We appreciated you sharing your concerns. We will be sure to pass along your comments."
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