Despite my general emotional vulnerability at the moment (see: darkness falling by 4.30pm, the general state of the world etc) none of the Christmas adverts this far have activated the tear ducts. Well congratulations, John Lewis, for emotionally uncorking me and surely countless others.
Sticking to its tried and tested method — excellent music cover over a story about gifting — the John Lewis Christmas advert has Labrinth covering Alison Limerick’s 90s dance track Where Love Lives, sound tracking a dad receiving a gift from his son.
The tagline is “If you can’t find the words, find the gift”, in a nod to the stalwart emotional constipation of the British psyche. We still have a long old way to go before we embrace the American attitude to talking about our feelings (shudder).
It’s Christmas wrapping clean-up o’clock at a stylish middle-class home (no cost-of-living themes here, a welcome break during this season of austere Crimbo ads) when a ruggedly handsome dad discovers a slim wrapped package addressed to him hiding under the tree.
The post-it note label suggests it’s from his surly teenage son, who is busy avoiding eye contact and keeping trendy noise-cancelling headphones glued to his head.
Down in his snug/man-cave, hot dad (seriously, congratulations to the Saatchi & Saatchi creative team, who must have stipulated ‘looks like Pedro Pascal crossed with Shawn Hatosy’ on their casting call) listens to his new vinyl of Limerick’s choon and is transported back to a 1990 club. Limerick then transforms into Labrinth as emotion swells.
In a highly cinematic moment, the dad spots his son watching him in the crowd, before everyone else disappears entirely. As they walk towards each other, the son becomes a little boy again, before transforming into a baby in his father’s arms. Back in the real world, they hug it out.
It’s a gorgeous moment that communicates — without words — the love and the gulf between parent and child, the tiny dependant that will grow up to be their own separate human being. And who might, one day, buy you a gift unprompted.
Surprisingly, John Lewis has never centred a father and son duo as the central pairing in their Christmas advert. Last year was sisters, and while there have been plenty of family permutations this is the first time men and young men have had the spotlight.
It’s a very timely choice, given the conversations that have been swirling in the zeitgeist about Adolescence, toxic masculinity, and the male loneliness crisis.
Writing about the latter has previously got me a lot of heat from the Men’s Rights brigade, but John Lewis perfectly demonstrates the solution here — men should be hugging each other more often! If your dad is a prick, find another man to hug! There’s lots of you.
Luckily for me, my dad is the sweetest man on earth. I always can’t wait to give him a cuddle, but after watching this advert I’ll be squeezing him extra tight. I think he’d prefer a jazz album, though.
