Supermarket Tesco has decided to show what for many is the real – though funny – side of many families’ Christmas in its festive adverts
Family feuds and falling out form part of Tesco’s Christmas ad campaign with a difference this year.
The supermarket giant has opted to ditch the often picture perfect image retailers serve up at this time of year, and show what the big day is really like for many people.
A series of 11 short ads include board game rows, slanging matches between siblings over who is their parents’ favourite child, and awkward chats with the neighbours you don’t really know.
Others have a youngster heading back home up to Merseyside only to be teased about their southern twang, and the silence when a relative says something awkward round the packed Christmas lunch table, just as the turkey arrives.
Tesco’s “That’s What Makes It Christmas” campaign is packaged in a series of standalone films, varying from 10 to 30 seconds long, and created by agency BBH London. The music to each mini film is “Holly Jolly Christmas” and the voice-over is comedian John Bishop.
The adverts – unlike most festive commercials from retailers – don’t focus on blatantly enticing shoppers into parting with their cash. However, Tesco will follow up with other adverts highlighting its product ranges.
They are also deliberately short to work well on social media channels and websites.
Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, executive creative director at BBH, said the aim was to highlight the “slightly more imperfect elements of Christmas. It’s during the messy, weird and unscripted chaos where the Christmas spirit really kicks in, and that felt like a different take on the festive season.” He added: “It was much different than we have done before.”