But this year, John Lewis is chucking away that legacy (and its former ad agency) like crumpled wrapping paper. Drum roll please… 2023’s top festive TV adverts, ranked Image: John Lewis John Lewisįrankly, it’s a shock to see John Lewis coming in at bottom place, since it practically invented the Christmas ad as we know it – 2011’s showstopper The Long Wait initiated a long run of unapologetically sentimental tear-jerkers exploring worthy festive themes like loneliness or foster care. Read on to see them ranked from worst to very best. Meanwhile, newer entrants to the game are emerging to take the crown of best Christmas ad in town. T wo big corporations are avoiding each other’s gaze after they both cast Hannah Waddingham – as embarrassing as women who turned up to the office party wearing identical sparkly jumpsuits. Where once, supermarkets Waitrose and Sainsbury’s launched mega budget, hyper-ambitious mini cinematic epics, this year their adverts amount to lists of products to buy. Former titan John Lewis is floundering at the bottom of the league. The soundtracks are getting punchier, the punchlines are getting funnier, and the stories are getting less slushy.Īs the mood shifts, new champions are emerging. But 2023 marks a bit of a changing of the guard in the Christmas advert stakes. ’Tis the season when festive ads flood our screens, assaulting our eyeballs with a heady combination of sentiment, cinematic production values and naked product placement.
