With the Christmas holiday just around the corner, holiday-themed advertisements are starting to drop in your social media feeds. Aside from increasing your excitement for the holiday festivities, they also tug at the heartstrings and make you all teary-eyed.
They inspire you to be kinder, more forgiving, and more generous―because Christmas is the season of giving and forgiving, after all.
Some of the best holiday ads that people look forward to the most are from John Lewis, a famous brand of department stores in the U.K. Suffice it to say, John Lewis Christmas ads bring on all the feels. They also deliver great and powerful messages (while promoting their products and services!).
Over the years, John Lewis has made some of the most unforgettable ads that genuinely have become classic favorites because of their positive and enduring lessons. The new John Lewis Christmas ad is called “The Beginner” and shares a powerful and timely message about an important cause. It highlights the issue of children who need caregiving and foster homes.
With Blink-182’s “All the Small Things” in the background, the video opens with a middle-aged man donning a helmet and trying to skateboard but failing.
He heaves a sad sigh and goes home, where he finds his wife talking on the phone. She tells the person on the other line how they can’t wait and how excited they are. Meanwhile, the husband plops down on the couch to ice his sore knee.
Then we see him buying a Christmas tree and using his skateboard to transport it home. He makes more attempts on the skateboard: in an empty car park and then in a skate park with other experienced skaters who perform all the skateboard tricks effortlessly.
He falls and suffers more skating-related injuries, and we can see him wincing in pain as he puts the star on top of their Christmas tree.
But it doesn’t stop this determined man from mastering the skateboard. He tries again. This time, on a sloping sidewalk, where he almost crashes into a pedestrian.
At work, he studies YouTube videos while moving his skateboard under his office desk. He laughs good-naturedly and doesn’t mind his wife teasing him about his skateboard fails.
But his hard work eventually pays off when he nails a skateboard trick and doesn’t end up falling on his face.
Next, we see him at home in the kitchen, preparing a big meal. When there’s a knock on the door, he and his wife look at each other with great anticipation.
They open the door to see a smiling social worker and a young girl clutching a yellow and well-used skateboard with trepidation on her face.
But she notices the man’s skateboard propped by the hallway, and he lets out a small, sheepish laugh, telling her he skates a bit, too, and shows his bandaged right arm.
The ice is broken. The young girl breaks into a shy smile and enters the home, knowing he made the effort to learn something she loves so that they have something in common.
Before the video ends, we can see the man showing his skateboard and the two starting a conversation about it.
As the video ends, a text appears stating that there are over 108,000 children in the U.K. care system and that John Lewis is making a long-term commitment to support the futures of young people from care.
In the U.S., there are roughly 391,000 children in foster care, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The video has already racked up millions of views just 24 hours after it was published. With this 2022 John Lewis Christmas ad, the company hopes to be a ‘force for positive change’ for young people growing up in care or anyone who has ever experienced being in care so that they can enjoy the same opportunity for a happier Christmas and a happier life.
Watch the full heartwarming advertisement below: