The John Lewis Christmas Ad Is Here. Does It Ease the Pain of 2016, or Add to It?

It's not easy making a lighthearted commercial to cap off 2016. Not with Brexit and President-elect Trump leaving a path of scorched earth behind them—or more to the point, ahead of them—and putting lots of consumers in the grimmest of moods this holiday. How do you find joy after such an annus horribilis? For John Lewis, the retailer that's become the standard bearer of holiday cheer in Britain—and helped turn Christmas into an advertising showcase, the U.K.'s Super Bowl—the task has fallen to a dog. He's a boxer named Buster, and he just wants to jump. Yes, the retailer's much-awaited two-minute 2016 Christmas commercial, created by London agency adam&eveDDB, broke early Thursday. Check it out here: Let's agree, first off, that this is one brilliantly crafted spot. Dougal Wilson, who's directed a lot of the John Lewis Christmas ads (including the two best ones—2011's groundbreaking "The Long Wait" and 2014's world-beating "Monty's Christmas"), creates a lovely, enchanting world. The lighting is gorgeous. The animals are charming and believable. It's perfectly paced, and admirably cast. The song—a cover of "One Day I'll Fly Away" by the British band Vaults—probably won't hit the top of the charts, but it sets the elevated mood well enough. And yet, even in its early hours online, the ad has its detractors. Some parents are upset that it shows Dad setting up the trampoline, complaining that this suggests to kids that Santa Claus isn't real. This is an understandable concern, though John Lewis has shrugged off this criticism, saying: "We're sure Father Christmas has also visited Bridget and Buster the night before. This is just an extra special gift from her parents because she loves to bounce." Then there are more outlandish critiques, including a Guardian columnist who suggested the ad is a failure because it feels like an allegory for Trump and Clinton—with an animal pushing his way in and getting to jump on the trampoline instead of the heroine. (This is an amusing reading, if nothing else, though the writer admits: "Perhaps I'm reading too much into this.") On the other hand, the spot has plenty of enthusiastic supporters who are thanking the retailer for crafting a simple, fun, uplifting story that brings a smile and a laugh—things that have been in short supply lately. In the end, the mixed reviews aren't surprising. The spot is well intentioned (the larger campaign will benefit The Wildlife Trusts), beautifully made and does bring some welcome levity. And it's smart to try some comedy after last year's somber "Man on the Moon" campaign—which, while also well crafted and charity-minded, was "a bit sad," as John Lewis admitted recently. Then again, #BusterTheBoxer doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's just harder to make uplifting, sentimental advertising that connects when there's a widespread feeling of gloom. It's a problem many Christmas advertisers, not just John Lewis, will be grappling with this season. The bar on making people feel good is just higher right now. John Lewis seems to want it both ways—to make a heartfelt, sentimental piece that undercuts its own sentiment with a comic ending. That approach has its problems—when the dog wins, the girl loses—but it's charming enough in the end. And honestly, when it comes to storytelling, every John Lewis ad will have a hard time competing with "Monty's Christmas" and its truly magical ending. Maybe, for a while, we can't have nice things. But kudos to John Lewis for trying anyway. CREDITS Client: John Lewis Customer Director: Craig Inglis Head of Marketing, Brand, Social: Rachel Swift Agency: adam&eveDDB Chief Creative Officer: Ben Priest Executive Creative Directors: Richard Brim, Ben Tollett Copywriter: Ben Stilitz Art Director: Colin Booth Chief Strategy Officer: David Golding Planning Partner: Martin Beverley Managing Director: Tammy Einav Business Director: Miranda Hipwell Account Director: Caroline Grayson Account Manager: Alice Child Producer: Panos Louca Assistant Producer: Sion Prys Media Planning Media Company: Manning Gottlieb OMD Chief Executive Officer: Tim Pearson Executive Director, Head of Planning: Clare Peters Head of Retail: David Bratt Client Account Director: Andrew Darby Client Account Director, Digital: Ric Roberts Production Company: Blink Productions Director: Dougal Wilson Producer: Nick Goldsmith Director of Photography: Joost Van Gelder Production Manager: Hannah Fowles-Pazdro Production Assistant: Jack Bingham Postproduction Company: MPC VFX Executive Producer: Julie Evans VFX Producer: Hannah Ruddleston VFX Line Producer: Sandra Ekland Creative Director VFX, MPC: Diarmid Harrison-Murray Colorist: Jean-Clément Soret Shoot Supervisors: Tom Harding, Tito Fernandes VFX Supervisor 3-D: Fabian Frank VFX Supervisor 2-D: Tom Harding Animation Supervisor: Tim van Hussen 3-D VFX Team: Chloe Dawes, Anthony Bloor, Ben Thomas, Graham Cristie, Jessie Amadio, Julien Labussiere, Luca Maccarelli, Matthew Gifford, Radu Ciubotariu, Tito Fernandes, Tushar Kewali, Vincent Ullman, Will Laban, Hanna Binswanger, Max Mallmann, Jessica Groom, Ankit Dheraj Toppo, Earnest Victor, Ganesh Kumar S., Bibin Balan P, Gayatri Patel, Jyoti Prakash Panda, Manjunath Ramakrishnaiah, Inigo Vimal Roy, Ria Banerjee, Gayatri Patel, Gerard Dunleavy Animation Team: David Bryan, Boris Cailly, India Barnardo, Martyn Smith, Lou Thomas, Cynthia Collins 2-D VFX Team: Grant White, David Filipe, Andreas Feix, Alex Snookes, Venkatesh Rajagopal, Ginesh Gandhi, Jonathan Box, Amresh Kumar, Padma Priya, Prasanth Palaparthi, Rajesh Kumar, Shalwin Shaiju, Yasasvini V, R. Vignesh, S. Samson Samuel, Shalwin Shaiju Composer, Soundtrack: Randy Crawford, "One Day I'll Fly Away" Performed by: Vaults Music Supervision Company: Leland Music Music Supervisors: Abi Leland, Ed Bailie Sound Company: Factory Sound Design, Mix: Anthony Moore Audio Producer: Becs Bell Editing: Final Cut Editor: Rick Russell VR Experience Production Company: MPC Creative Executive Creative Director, MPC Creative: André Assalino Interactive Creative Director, MPC Creative: Pete Conolly Executive Producer: Dan Phillips Lead Producer: Joana Flor Senior Interactive Producer: Joana Guimarães Interactive Production Assistant: Sinead Catney Lead Tech Artists: Pablo Bravo, Cat Dixon Lead UE Developer: David Pereira UE Developer Team: Dennis Ippel, Guiseppe Mattiolo, Thomas Lopez, Olivier Dumas, Bertrand Leroy Lead Unity Developer: Tim Porteous Unity Developer: Vitor Castanheira Front and Back-end Developer: Pedro Rocha UI Designer: Gorkem Menekse VFX Supervisor: Kumar Chandrasekaran VFX HoP: Sean Mullen VFX Creative Director: David Kern VFX Technical Directors: Selvam Venkatesan, Praveen Madhyasta Animation: Anil Kumar Singh Rigging VFX Artists: Matthew Gifford, Tushar Kewlani, Raju Ganesh, Baskaran Seetharaman, Pritesh Krishnappa Kotian, Atheesh Sankaran, Ashish Kumar Chourasiya, Shivam Pandey, Krishnendu Bikash Maity, Yogesh Gadge, Ganesh Mohan, Mithun Monga, Shashi Prakash Raj, Vivek Mangainath, Dhanesh Puthiyavalappil, Harwin Sebastien, Srinivasa Sheelam, Aditya Shukla, Sminesh Sudevan Senior VFX Producer: Tomek Zietkiewicz VFX Production Supervisor: Devendra Kumar VFX Producer: Prithi Amarnath VFX Production Assistant: Lokesh Reddy Tech Artist: Pravenn Thanvi DMP: Michelle Tolo Motion Designer: Jonny Eveson Sound Design: 1618 Digital Sound studio: ClearCut Voiceover Artist: Faye Ripley Interactive, Print, Social Interactive Creative Director: Till Diestel Lead Interactive Producer: Budr Elnusairi Integrated Producer: Laura Smith Assistant Producers: Naomi Barrie, Laurelle May Interactive Design Lead: Andrew Murray Project Managers: Hatty Day, Hannah Dowty Head of Design: Paul Knowles Designer: Olly Watts Design Company: King Henry Head of cain&abel production: Brett Kelsey Editors: Hannah Taylor, Joe Andrews, Paul Cheshire, James Ireland Motion Graphic Designer: Ed Christie Photographer: Noemie Bottiau Interactive Designers: Adrian Baker, Megan Young, Jennifer Slack, Hashir Khan, Norman Lo Bookings Manager: Serena Moll Interactive Resource Manager: Jacinta Crane Interactive Partner: Simon Adamson Social Media Director: Viki Imrie Social Media Strategist: Jess Taylor Social Media Manager: Lauren Booty

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The John Lewis Christmas Ad Is Here. Does It Ease the Pain of 2016, or Add to It?

Buster the boxer just wants to have fun

Tim Nudd

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Tim Nudd