Tesco's Christmas advert featuring the Spice Girls. Photograph: PA
Basing your decision entirely on the celebrity they've got in their advert, at which supermarket would you do your Christmas shop? Despite it being owned by Wal-Mart and being a little C, D, E for my liking, I'd go for Asda because Julie Walters is just so lovely. In fact, I am actually considering buying a Nintendo DS thingy because I assume you get a free Julie Walters with it - she comes round to help you, as she does Patrick Stewart, add 8 + 6 and then you have a right old natter after you've got bored of training your brain.
Conversely, I wouldn't be surprised if the Spice Girls' Tesco ads are actually putting people off shopping there. Were the first ad not ridiculous enough, the second, and hopefully last one - in which they're arguing over what to have for their Christmas dinner - is just bonkers. That bit where Victoria Beckham is eyeing up Christmas puddings is surely the oddest moment of all. I'm convinced she thinks they're actually breast implants.
So I am wondering if celebrities in adverts actually have any discernible impact on sales - compared to, say, mention of price cuts or brand building a la Waitrose. Does the dreamy prospect of bumping into Lulu in the freezer section of Morrison's have folks flocking to their local store? Has Kerry Katona helped Iceland rack up heftier profits than it might have otherwise? Or not? Perhaps someone who knows about advertising can help me out here.
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