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Tesco’s new Christmas advert has been dubbed its “most emotional yet” as directors reveal just how many sweets and gingerbread it took to film the three-minute clip
A look behind-the-scenes of Tesco’s Christmas advert filming
Tesco have revealed the staggering number of props used on set for their Christmas ad that customers are calling “the most emotional yet”. Titled ‘Helping Feed Your Christmas Spirit’, the advert tells the story of Gary, who remembers his late grandmother by carrying on their Christmas tradition by building a gingerbread house.
Set to On Melancholy Hill by Gorillaz, Gary sees Christmas spirit explode all around him after his grandfather hands him a packet of Tesco Gingerbread Men. The advert ends with Gary and his family enjoying a banquet of food, something that took a total of eight ovens to achieve.
Deputy Executive Creative Director Felipe Guimaraes tells the Mirror: “We had eight different ovens cooking all the food.” With gingerbread men being its main theme throughout the advert, it’s no surprise that 130 gingerbread props were made to sustain the magical element throughout the three-minute clip.
The world transforms into a gingerbread winter wonderland, but it starts to crumble as bereaved Gary remembers how his gran will be absent at Christmas. But he and his granddad rekindle a cherished tradition of building a gingerbread house, which takes pride on the household’s festive table.
While customers only see the magic of the curated advert, Felipe reveals it actually takes up to six months of production before it’s ready to air. “From finding the directors to seeking out casting locations, there’s a lot that goes into it,” Felipe explains.
“You have to get it all signed off, find the music, sort out the visual effects and cast who is going to be featured in the advert. It takes longer than people might think.”
It also takes a lot more food and props than people might realise, with 400 litres of fake icing to create the gingerbread-themed house, 10,000 sweets that explode from the back of a moped, and even an entire gingerbread attic that was built on set measuring over 4.2m tall, 7.3m long, and 4m wide.
The final scene that displays a lavish banquet of Christmas food took eight ovens to cook. “We had a delivery with a huge crate of food on set,” Felipe says.
“When we were doing the final banquet, we had eight different ovens cooking all the food. I think it was around six turkeys, so there were a lot of ovens in use.”
And the food doesn’t go to waste, with a lot of it being donated. “We donate what we can,” he says. “The team have also worked bloody hard, so they get to enjoy some of the food at the end too.”
Describing his favourite moment from filming the ad, he says the wall-drop scene was one of the most “amazing” to watch come to life. “We only had two or three goes at the wall drop because it was all happening on set,” he says.
“All the candy really exploded in front of our eyes so I had a big smile on my face seeing that come alive.” The gingerbread moped in the advert was also “fully functioning”, taking 12 hours just to add the icing and sweets.