High-end department store, John Lewis has dropped their advertisement for Christmas two weeks prior. Perhaps, this is meant to serve as a reminder for shoppers to get their Christmas shopping done early.
Content of the ad
From what has been gathered, an important aspect of John Lewis’ advertisements is the story and the storytelling of the ad. From a personal point of view, these are quite akin and reminiscent of Enid Blyton’s books.
For this time, in 2021, a young boy during Christmas time spots a magical rainbow-like beam crashing into the forest. Curious, he checks it out and discovers an alien-nymph creature. Terrified of what he has discovered, he runs away home.
Despite the terrifying experience, his curiosity hadn’t been satiated and he finds himself in the forest once again. The alien-nymph being catches him looking for it. Being equally intrigued by him, it chooses to understand him more.
The duo spends more and more time during Christmas. At last, the day arrives comes when the nymph needs to leave Earth for good. The boy gifts her the lights he had when it had first found him in the forest. With a goodbye kiss, the alien-nymph being leaves for good.
The reaction
Despite the ad’s benevolent message, some on Twitter argued that this advertisement unnecessarily marginalised folks by masquerading as a woke advertisement.
The alien being white in colour was taken as a symbolism of the white majority of the UK being alienated. Furthermore, this was seen as a deliberate move on behalf of John Lewis and henceforth all proclamations of rage and boycott were declared.
The new John Lewis Christmas ad #UnexpectedGuest follows the old formula (black male, white female) but this time the race-mixing propaganda is literally out of this world! pic.twitter.com/RHpWy9aISx
— Way of the World (@wayotworld) November 4, 2021
Just don’t buy there, boycott all stores, eventually, one day the penny will drop. To spend this amount of money after all those redundancies is immoral, alienating the majority is not smart money business wise.
— Andy Bragg (@bragg_andy) November 4, 2021
Go Woke, Go Broke!
— GazBrit 🇬🇧🇺🇸🇦🇺🇨🇦🇳🇿 (@hbcgaz) November 4, 2021
Others, of course, took the ad at more at face value and were pleased with it.
If you're boycotting #UnexpectedGuest , just…. get back under your rock, no one cares. Nothing wrong with it and its a beautiful story. pic.twitter.com/6WAWCBZ8xW
— PerusaLenne (@Miliinka) November 4, 2021
If you saw me crying at the @JohnLewisRetail Christmas advert, no you didn’t #UnexpectedGuest #johnlewisadvert pic.twitter.com/OnhUXbHx8X
— Amanda 💕 (@Amanda08706819) November 4, 2021
Been with John Lewis 16 years. Been some good ads, bizarre ads and some poo ads. I for one, love this.
Showed my 2 kids and they loved it. They loved it because its sweet and innocent.What they didn't notice was the colour of skin.
Coz it don't matter to a child. Take note.
— Neil Cleary (@NeilCleary2) November 4, 2021
Lovely, lovely bit of acting from the little fella when he is saying goodbye, and he’s just managing to hold back the tears. Perfectly done. And in the finest traditions of UK sci fi, the spaceship looked a bit cardboardy. But that’s ok, after years of Dr Who we’re used to it.
— Ken Goodwin (@KenGoodwinITV) November 4, 2021
I ❤️ this. All about compassion, family, friendship and dreams. Just magical. Xx
— Michelle Lynch (@ShellyLynch2) November 5, 2021
Another unexpected but surprising occurrence that got tied with this ad. Several people spotted a possibly manufactured crashed sight with the hashtag #UnexpectedGuest. Since this is the hashtag John Lewis had used to share their ad on Twitter; some were speculating if both of these occurrences were connected or not and were at the very least; confused.
Anyone got any idea what this is? #UnexpectedGuest pic.twitter.com/RvMC7Wudg6
— Chris Russell (@chrussell1984) November 3, 2021
whats this about then #unexpectedguest pic.twitter.com/NEavrW54SX
— Ruairi Biollo (@BiolloRuairi) November 2, 2021
More images coming in of an #UnexpectedGuest on Riverside Walk. Security advise that you may observe at Observation Point near Ernie’s Beach. Damage has been done to the footpath. So mind your step as it is now dark. Security advise caution. I repeat: look but don’t touch. pic.twitter.com/2VqA9mn3np
— Coin Street (@CoinStreet) November 3, 2021
