With the holiday fast approaching, and the unavoidable sound of Christmas songs playing on the radio, we took a look back at our favourite funny Christmas ads from the US, Italy, Cyprus, Germany and the UK. Some classic, some risky, here they are in all of their glory.
The American bravura
Our first pick, Kmart’s 2013 Joe Boxer campaign “Show Your Joe”, was no stranger to a bit of controversy. At the time, Kmart was under the creative direction of Mark Andeer and was known for its witty, pun-filled adverts (“Ship my pants” and “Big Gas Savings” among others).
The commercial begins seemingly innocently, with six men in suit jackets playing the age-old classic “Jingle Bells” on hand bells. Then, the table in front of them is whisked away, only to reveal that from the waist down the men are dressed only in boxers (Joe Boxers, of course). To audience members’ surprise, the men continue with their musical performance – by shaking their hips.
The viral ad was met with equal parts laughter and anger. While some found the light-hearted ad as just another boundary toeing addition to the Kmart repertoire, others found it distasteful.
The German element of surprise
The underwear brand isn’t the only one to have used the classic holiday jingle in their adverts. German supermarket brand Edeka’s 2014 Christmas campaign stars real, unsuspecting Edeka shoppers. It begins by setting the stage – an evening run to the grocery store. As they wait in line, the lights go down and customers are surprised with a choreographed rendition of “Jingle Bells”, played exclusively by the cashiers on their checkout machines, which begin flashing red and green! As accompaniment, they are joined by a beat boxer, who provides the sounds of the sleigh bells, along with a killer beat. What better way to start holiday celebrations?
The Italian solution
With a more classic approach, Italy’s pannetone brand Motta plays the emotional card, involving children in the process. A young boy and his family are seen eating pannetone when the doorbell rings. The boy thinks it is Babbo Natale (Father Christmas), but is informed that Santa comes through the chimney. Flash forward and the boy can’t sleep because he is afraid that Bobbo Natale will hurt himself on the hard stone of the hearth. His solution? A Motta pannetone to act as an airbag!
The Cypriot advent
Everyone knows that children have high expectations when it comes to Christmas morning, and that’s exactly what Greek retailer Jumbo played off of in their 2013 ad, which aired in Cyprus. It depicts a girl scrupulously inspecting the Christmas tree. After taking measurements from several different angles, she begins to cut off ornaments from the bottom of the tree. Finally, with a triumphant look, she sits back and admires her work before getting up and sneaking back to bed. Staying true to the brand’s tradition of counting down the days until the winter holiday, the advert closes with the words “32 days until Christmas” flashing across the screen in Greek.
And finally, the British sense of irony
As our final pick, we’ve chosen a UK brand that played on the materialistic nature of Christmas, going so far as to create a special product collection to go with the 2014 advert. In the campaign, entitled “Sorry, I Spent It On Myself”, Harvey Nichols encouraged its consumers to spend their Christmas budgets buying nice gifts for themselves. In the advert, viewers get to watch the confused and disappointed reactions of the recipients of these low-budget gifts as the gift-giver guiltily tries to convince them that the present is great!
Sweet, funny, or boundary-pushing, we love them all. Whether the reactions were positive, negative, or somewhere in between, each brand successfully grabbed viewers’ attention with these creative campaigns. What are your favourite light-hearted Christmas adverts?
The American bravura
Our first pick, Kmart’s 2013 Joe Boxer campaign “Show Your Joe”, was no stranger to a bit of controversy. At the time, Kmart was under the creative direction of Mark Andeer and was known for its witty, pun-filled adverts (“Ship my pants” and “Big Gas Savings” among others).
The commercial begins seemingly innocently, with six men in suit jackets playing the age-old classic “Jingle Bells” on hand bells. Then, the table in front of them is whisked away, only to reveal that from the waist down the men are dressed only in boxers (Joe Boxers, of course). To audience members’ surprise, the men continue with their musical performance – by shaking their hips.
The viral ad was met with equal parts laughter and anger. While some found the light-hearted ad as just another boundary toeing addition to the Kmart repertoire, others found it distasteful.
The German element of surprise
The underwear brand isn’t the only one to have used the classic holiday jingle in their adverts. German supermarket brand Edeka’s 2014 Christmas campaign stars real, unsuspecting Edeka shoppers. It begins by setting the stage – an evening run to the grocery store. As they wait in line, the lights go down and customers are surprised with a choreographed rendition of “Jingle Bells”, played exclusively by the cashiers on their checkout machines, which begin flashing red and green! As accompaniment, they are joined by a beat boxer, who provides the sounds of the sleigh bells, along with a killer beat. What better way to start holiday celebrations?
The Italian solution
With a more classic approach, Italy’s pannetone brand Motta plays the emotional card, involving children in the process. A young boy and his family are seen eating pannetone when the doorbell rings. The boy thinks it is Babbo Natale (Father Christmas), but is informed that Santa comes through the chimney. Flash forward and the boy can’t sleep because he is afraid that Bobbo Natale will hurt himself on the hard stone of the hearth. His solution? A Motta pannetone to act as an airbag!
The Cypriot advent
Everyone knows that children have high expectations when it comes to Christmas morning, and that’s exactly what Greek retailer Jumbo played off of in their 2013 ad, which aired in Cyprus. It depicts a girl scrupulously inspecting the Christmas tree. After taking measurements from several different angles, she begins to cut off ornaments from the bottom of the tree. Finally, with a triumphant look, she sits back and admires her work before getting up and sneaking back to bed. Staying true to the brand’s tradition of counting down the days until the winter holiday, the advert closes with the words “32 days until Christmas” flashing across the screen in Greek.
And finally, the British sense of irony
As our final pick, we’ve chosen a UK brand that played on the materialistic nature of Christmas, going so far as to create a special product collection to go with the 2014 advert. In the campaign, entitled “Sorry, I Spent It On Myself”, Harvey Nichols encouraged its consumers to spend their Christmas budgets buying nice gifts for themselves. In the advert, viewers get to watch the confused and disappointed reactions of the recipients of these low-budget gifts as the gift-giver guiltily tries to convince them that the present is great!
Sweet, funny, or boundary-pushing, we love them all. Whether the reactions were positive, negative, or somewhere in between, each brand successfully grabbed viewers’ attention with these creative campaigns. What are your favourite light-hearted Christmas adverts?
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