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Re: The Bear & The Hare
An interesting view on this from the London Evening Standard:
Richard Godwin: Let’s not get too carried away by a John Lewis Christmas advert
In the past, companies wanted us to think they were cool, sexy or cheap. Since the recession, something strange has happened. They want us to know that they care
The caring side: the bear and the hare in the new John Lewis Christmas ad, which received 4.7 million YouTube views (Picture: PA)
Richard Godwin
Published: 13 November 2013
Updated: 11:42, 13 November 2013
Guys, WTF? You do know that the bear in the John Lewis advert isn’t real? If you gave a bear an alarm clock for Christmas, he’d rip your face off because he’s a BEAR. Bears feel about Christmas what you feel about Scottish football, or the Welsh Assembly, or Birmingham. A massive WHEVS.
Nor do bears make friends with hares. I’m pretty sure they eat hares. They might use a hare as a prophylactic — but that’s as lovey-dovey as it gets. And anyway, the bear that merited a West End premiere and 4.7 million YouTube views and made people on Facebook and Twitter cry, is a CARTOON. He is made of pixels and lies.
So I’m sorry if that ruins John Lewis’s £7 million piece of propaganda for you, heart-melting Lily Allen-does-Keane soundtrack and all. However, when newspapers describe it as the “Two Minutes that Launched Christmas”, I feel we need a sharp blast of realism.
We are in a sorry state if we can’t distinguish art from commerce. This is what the Archbishop of Canterbury is getting at when he says consumerism puts pressure on relationships at Christmas, making us equate love and money. In short, it “spoils life”. For advertising is like warfare. Every year, our defences get stronger; every year, the weaponry gets more sophisticated.
In the past, companies wanted us to think they were cool, sexy or cheap. Since the recession, something strange has happened. They want us to know that they care. Note how the new animated TSB advert emphasises the bank’s homely roots — or how that downbeat McDonald’s ad set on the council estate shoots for our community spirit. They want us to share, to like, to buy the single.
The “Bear and the Hare” is a beautifully crafted scheme to distort your innermost feelings, the very tender ones relating to childhood, family and friendship.
As John Lewis’s marketing exec explains: “This is really about telling a story and making that emotional connection. It’s not all about glitz and glamour, it’s about animation and the brand.” The aim is that ultimately you will confuse “love” and “hope” with a John Lewis bathrobe or a Magimix.
If I ran a chain of brothels in depressing coastal towns, I think this is what I’d do. I’d pay some venerable animator to draw a hedgehog and his friends on a fun night out in Dingle Dell. I’d hire someone from the Great British Bake Off to sing a glockenspiel cover of Adele’s Someone Like You. Then the final scene would show two hedgehogs kissing and pulling down the blinds. The slogan would say something like: “Everyone deserves a little loving”.
Ain’t that sweet! But remember: an RT is for life, not just for Christmas.
An interesting view on this from the London Evening Standard:
Richard Godwin: Let’s not get too carried away by a John Lewis Christmas advert
In the past, companies wanted us to think they were cool, sexy or cheap. Since the recession, something strange has happened. They want us to know that they care
The caring side: the bear and the hare in the new John Lewis Christmas ad, which received 4.7 million YouTube views (Picture: PA)
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Richard Godwin
Published: 13 November 2013
Updated: 11:42, 13 November 2013
Guys, WTF? You do know that the bear in the John Lewis advert isn’t real? If you gave a bear an alarm clock for Christmas, he’d rip your face off because he’s a BEAR. Bears feel about Christmas what you feel about Scottish football, or the Welsh Assembly, or Birmingham. A massive WHEVS.
Nor do bears make friends with hares. I’m pretty sure they eat hares. They might use a hare as a prophylactic — but that’s as lovey-dovey as it gets. And anyway, the bear that merited a West End premiere and 4.7 million YouTube views and made people on Facebook and Twitter cry, is a CARTOON. He is made of pixels and lies.
So I’m sorry if that ruins John Lewis’s £7 million piece of propaganda for you, heart-melting Lily Allen-does-Keane soundtrack and all. However, when newspapers describe it as the “Two Minutes that Launched Christmas”, I feel we need a sharp blast of realism.
We are in a sorry state if we can’t distinguish art from commerce. This is what the Archbishop of Canterbury is getting at when he says consumerism puts pressure on relationships at Christmas, making us equate love and money. In short, it “spoils life”. For advertising is like warfare. Every year, our defences get stronger; every year, the weaponry gets more sophisticated.
In the past, companies wanted us to think they were cool, sexy or cheap. Since the recession, something strange has happened. They want us to know that they care. Note how the new animated TSB advert emphasises the bank’s homely roots — or how that downbeat McDonald’s ad set on the council estate shoots for our community spirit. They want us to share, to like, to buy the single.
The “Bear and the Hare” is a beautifully crafted scheme to distort your innermost feelings, the very tender ones relating to childhood, family and friendship.
As John Lewis’s marketing exec explains: “This is really about telling a story and making that emotional connection. It’s not all about glitz and glamour, it’s about animation and the brand.” The aim is that ultimately you will confuse “love” and “hope” with a John Lewis bathrobe or a Magimix.
If I ran a chain of brothels in depressing coastal towns, I think this is what I’d do. I’d pay some venerable animator to draw a hedgehog and his friends on a fun night out in Dingle Dell. I’d hire someone from the Great British Bake Off to sing a glockenspiel cover of Adele’s Someone Like You. Then the final scene would show two hedgehogs kissing and pulling down the blinds. The slogan would say something like: “Everyone deserves a little loving”.
Ain’t that sweet! But remember: an RT is for life, not just for Christmas.
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