Christmas adverts

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.