Yes, I know what you’re thinking, if the Christmas advert isn’t heart-wrenchingly John Lewis, you aren’t interested right? I’m calling you out on that and saying that the Sainsbury’s advert is THE highlight of the Christmas period. Put your tinsel-wrapped pitchforks down and hear me out.
“The curtains pull back and you’re filled with the warmth of a proud parent”
The advert draws on the classically cringe-worthy yet adorable spectacle that is the primary school Christmas play, complete with the utter ridiculousness of exaggerated Christmas costumes (think back to the time of sticking tinsel to your scratchy white sheet-dress then add A LOT more glitter). A girl in an outrageously gold star costume sings her timid heart out to a distracted mother and audience of parents (the heart strings are already being plucked). The tempo picks up, the curtains pull back and you’re filled with the warmth of a proud parent (or at least I was…). Next thing you know there’s an array of incredible singing, the queen pops up in a cardboard TV, tinsel is dancing, a camel is thrown in there and… *cue smoke machine and beat drop*. Adorable children run on dressed as the most ridiculous baubles, waving at parents. By this point I’m in tears, a turkey is playing the drums and another child is break dancing, I don’t know where to look and its all just a teary-blur of colour and cuteness. But the best is yet to come.
“Whilst I don’t endorse children running at plug sockets on normal occasions, this is mood-lifting and frankly snort-worthy hilarity”
You may have seen it floating around social media, but never will the kid dressed as a plug cease to have me in fits of giggles. Keep your eye on him and you will not be disappointed. He runs to the plug socket and legs-flailing jumps onto the wall to light the following a string of LEDs. I may have watched that part on repeat for a good hour… Whilst I don’t endorse children running at plug sockets on normal occasions, this is mood-lifting and frankly snort-worthy hilarity that has made Christmas for me already. I also question how the practicalities of that stunt worked- if you see me with a broken nose, it may be because I was trying to figure that part out… To top it all off, a giant gravy-boat of glitter is poured over the children (is it bad that I wanted it to be real gravy?) and the star-singer is dangled above them all in both a heart-warming yet laughably awkward finale. And, as if your heart hasn’t already taken a beating, the scene ends on a little bauble being left outside as the curtains draw, having to run back behind them in a waddling-duck like manner caused by the spherical costume (imagine blueberry-bloated Violet Beauregarde but a lot cuter). At this point, if you still have yourself composed, you go back to 1 minute 20 seconds to re-watch the plug (you can thank me later).
So have I convinced you yet? I’ll admit it’s got nothing on the moving spectacle that is the John Lewis Penguin or the snowman trying to find the perfect gloves. The Sainsbury’s advert is, however, the perfect mix of humour, cuteness and sparkle that has me preferring it over all the others this year; sorry Elton John, but you’ve been out-shone by a plug (quite literally)!
8/10
Phoebe Raine
