John Lewis Debuts 2021 Christmas Film Featuring Young Human-Alien Infatuation
Video screenshot via John Lewis
If the holidays were governed by John Lewis, then Christmas would arrive early this year, because the UK department store—whose festive campaigns are the hallmark of Christmas advertising—has released its much-anticipated spot a week early. Like previous years, this edition envisions an unusual friend—but this time, she’s from a different planet.
Reminiscent of the E.T. story, 2021’s John Lewis film—entitled Unexpected Guest—depicts a boy named Ethan and his budding friendship with Skye, an alien who has crash-landed in the woods.
During her time on Earth, Skye learns about holiday traditions like the putting up of fairy lights and the snacking of mince pies. And as with many coming-of-age tales, there’s a hint of a crush growing between the two.
The sweet video was produced by John Lewis’ longtime advertising agency partner adam&eveDDB, and is set to a cover of Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder’s Together in Electric Dreams by 20-year-old singer Lola Young. According to the Guardian, the film took 10 months to complete.
John Lewis debuted the video prematurely to prepare for anticipated earlier gift shopping runs, a trend indicated in the rise of searches for Christmas-related products on its websites, per the news outlet.
The chain is also expecting a higher volume in sales this year, having placed more products in the commercial; practically every prop in there will be on sale. There’s even a spin-off product—the light-up sweater that Nathan gifts Skye at the end—although it won’t feature the LED lights. Customers will be able to purchase the outerwear in child and adult sizes, with 10% of the profits dedicated to charities FareShare and Home-Start UK.
John Lewis explains that it chose not to add lights to the sweater due to sustainability issues. LEDs would make it less durable and more difficult to wash, raising the likelihood of it being discarded quickly. “We deliberately took a call not to put electrics on it because of longevity,” customer director Claire Pointon details in a statement published by the Telegraph. “Quality is so important to our brand and we didn’t want to be putting out something that didn’t have that thinking.”
[via The Guardian and The Telegraph, video and cover image via John Lewis]
Also check out these recent news
