Over the last few years, the annual Christmas advert from British department store chain John Lewis has become something of an institution. Each release has become a major talking point on social media as the retailer attempts to outdo its previous efforts, with this year's iteration, Monty The Penguin, garnering more than 2.5 million views across social media and 100,000 shares within the first 12 hours of it airing. Memorable Christmas adverts are nothing new - it's a long-standing belief that the Christmas season has "never truly begun" until the Coca Cola advert starts making the rounds, for instance - but John Lewis have certainly found a formula that works, incorporating a heart-warming short story and a beautiful vocal accompaniment into each of their works. A common criticism of Christmas is that excessive commercialism has long since overridden the 'true meaning' of the holiday, but as long as retail remains a dominant feature of the Christmas landscape, advertising is, and will remain, a powerful tool, with rivals challenging John Lewis with memorable creations of their own. This year, for instance, supermarket Sainsburys have garnered a comparable level of attention with their advert, which focuses on the Christmas truce and football match from World War I on the 100th anniversary of the start of the conflict. Regardless of these challenges, John Lewis seems set to continue attempting to go above and beyond in tugging at our heartstrings, so as December approaches once again, let us revisit and critique each of the company's commercials.
