Bob CollinsWe officially begin Christmas TV ad critic season! Welcome. Nice to see you again.
First up this year is this ad. Is this British ad sexist?
It comes from a supermarket chain and in the face of some criticism over there, the company said it didn’t mean to offend anyone.
Says the Ad Freak blog:
I wasn’t too shaken by the ad, which has the same ratio of multitasking-supermom to slackjawed-clueless-dad as every ad I’ve ever seen in my life. But I’m almost happy people were offended. This sort of thing probably is sexist, both to women who don’t want to be seen as domestic workhorses forever and to men who want a little credit for competent parenting.
Our next TV ad in the “controversy” category is likely to be Macy’s. Word has leaked that in its holiday ad, Donald Trump asks Edmund Gwenn (think Miracle on 38th St.) if he’s really Santa Claus. Get it? Beard? Birth certificate? Well, some people are ticked off.
But it’s not all nonsense. Back in the UK, a four-year-old boy with Down’s Syndrome, will star in the Christmas TV commercials for a retailer. Seb White got the job after his mother posted his picture on the chain’s Facebook page, noting the lack of disabled children in advertising in August.
The Brits are simply better — way better — at TV advertising than we Colonists are. Take the John Lewis Christmas ad. People wait for it every year from the retailer because it’s fairly epic.
Behold…
What do we have over here to equal it? Some guy giving his wife a new Lexus.
