Christmas adverts

Sarah Allen  |  Features  |  Culture watching
Date posted:  1 Jan 2019
Share Add       
Christmas adverts

The Waitrose Christmas advert | photo: Waitrose

I’m writing this in the first week of December, but the battle of the ads started a few weeks ago.

Much anticipated, compared and dissected in the press, these adverts from the major retailers have become a tradition over the last 15 years. And I guess they do their job, raising the profile of the companies concerned and presenting them as beneficent, family friendly, cheer-bringing organisations – helping us to forget for a month or so that they are really consumption-creating giants battling each other for the contents of our purses.

Tempting...

As Christians who know that Christmas is about the extraordinary, awe-inspiring, daz-zlingly beautiful miracle of the Incarnation, it would be tempting to despise these ads. They are often manipulative and cynical sickly-sweet confections, after all. They promote idolatry of the family and of consumption and gloss over the pain that is so much a part of many peoples’ Christmas. But maybe we should not condemn too quickly or switch off from their effects; after all, these adverts showcase the aspirations and values of our nation. They are a picture of the yearnings that we all share.

Share
< Previous article| Features| Next article >
Read more articles on:   christmas
Read more articles by Sarah Allen >>
Reviews
A ‘fierce’ book on complementarianism

A ‘fierce’ book on complementarianism

If you are a reader of Christian blogs or active in the Christian Twittersphere you can’t have missed mention of …

Comment
What are you like at wrestling in prayer?

What are you like at wrestling in prayer?

Wrestling is a strange image of prayer. If you read some of the pieces written about prayer today, it seems …

Looking for a job?

Browse all our current job adverts

Search

Subscribe

Enjoy our monthly paper and full online access

Find out more