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IT'S SANT... huh? Is that true, mummy?

20 Nov 11 | Re: Ad gaffes

It was supposed to be innocuous and endearing, but instead it is raising the ire of message-board posters across the nation. Let’s just take a few moments to list all the things that Littlewoods (an otherwise admirable retail business) have got wrong with this Christmas advert:

1. It lets the cat out of the bag over the whole Santa wheeze by telling kids that it’s actually their parents buying the presents. Whoops! Goodbye magic and lies, hello a big pile of thankyou letters.
2. It’s materialistic. Mums aren’t, in fact, good in proportion to how many presents they buy.
3. It comes off a bit sexist. What about the dads? Have none of the kids in that choir got a dad who has contributed to Christmas?
4. It might excite pangs of inadequacy in those in charge of school nativity plays, because (much like the one in Love Actually) while attempting to look ramshackle and homespun, it actually shows production values on another planet of lavishness to what most schools might be able to achieve.
5. It fails on an artistic level, as the adorable little children tend to grate with repeated viewings. The teensy Little Miss Sunshine doing the cutesy hip-hop moves is particularly bad.

On the plus side, I didn’t know Littlewoods sold camcorders or laptops, so it has got its message across to me. As it turns out, I have finished my Christmas shopping; but there’s always next year.

Posted by CHE WALLS at 19:36

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