Blimey. The dog’s just emerging nervously from behind the sofa and the smell of gunpowder still hangs over countless fields and gardens. But here comes the full-on commercial glorification of Christ’s birth. Bring it on. As ever, its arrival is heralded by ‘the Christmas ads’. As much a part of the traditional celebration as a variety box and a pig in a blanket, it’s the one time of year that you, the glorious British public, actually pay attention to the stuff we make in the advertising business.

The rest of the year you happily pay a premium to block us out… I guess that’s the Christmas spirit working, as you welcome us and our messages into your homes.

We’re going to have a look at some of them and see if it’s a vintage year. I thought it would be interesting to understand what advertising people made of them but – more importantly – what real people think about them: are they on song or tone deaf?

One hell of a year

And we should also bear in mind the context, because while it is indeed the season to be jolly, it’s also been one hell of a year, with sky-rocketing interest rates, the eye-watering cost of living and wars raging in Europe and the Middle East.

Are we just hoping for a hand-crank radio and a multi-pack of baked beans in our stockings or do we still crave a little more?

John Lewis Christmas advert 2026: Gloria and Pickles

The John Lewis ad is, in so many ways, an institution now. And again the craft here (including the soundtrack, casting and direction) is flawless. This year’s ad, which stars Kristin Scott Thomas and a shonky wooden dog called Pickles, scored 5.6 stars according to System1, a business that measures the effectiveness of ads. They say it’s John Lewis’s strongest one since Excitable Edgar in 2019. But there is an argument raging around it: a lot of other voices in the business point out that, while it’s good fun, it suffers from a lack of emotional engagement. There’s no tear-jerking twist. It’s supposed to say a personal gift beats cash, but it comes across as implying “spending money is the only way to win the kids’ affection”.

Piers Morgan called it “the worst advert I’ve ever seen for anything”. Sarah Vine dubbed the grandkids “spoiled, entitled, rude and overindulged.” The Spectator branded it “lamentably bad”. And it’s getting 77 per cent negative social sentiment from the public. For me, if grandma tarted up a room to look like a disco for my Christmas present, I’d feel a little cheated… but maybe I’m just as entitled as the kids in the ad.

M&S Christmas advert 2026: Hot Santa takes the lead

Next there’s M&S. I must declare an interest here: my agency wrote the script that reunited French and Saunders a few years back. But times change… For the first time in a long time it rolls together food, fashion and home. It starts off stronger than the Christmas punch, with a PR shot of James Norton wearing only a towel. More About Advertising rated it nine out of 10, calling it “a Christmas classic.” It also backed merging the categories, because food continues to drive profits while fashion grabs headlines. Creative Review called it “glitzy but funny”. And you? Well, Vicky Pattison called it “the best advert I have ever seen” and Stacey Dooley said “Absolutely yes”.

So hot Santa seems to be landing his sled in the right spot! M&S looks like the early winner based on public mood. It has a “humour beats tears” formula and a celebrity that everyone wants to talk about. The open question is still effectiveness: hot Santa is great for reach and talkability, but the real test is whether it translates to sales…

Tesco Christmas advert 2026: The delivery drivers say breaks every rule

Tesco is the only other Christmas ad being talked about so far… and not for the right reasons. Lizzie (Anna Maxwell Martin) sends her Tesco Christmas order to her old address, hundreds of miles away. The driver turns out to be her long-lost school friend Polly (Roisin Conaty), and their road trip to deliver it ends with Polly joining the family for Christmas. A heartwarming festive tale, right?

But The Grocer (the trade rag for supermarkets) reports that Tesco delivery drivers have called it out for doing “literally everything we are specifically forbidden from doing in one short clip”. Drivers have accused Tesco of “acting like this isn’t a sackable offence”. That’s a problem when believability is so important. Although, for balance, they also voted it ahead of Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Asda and Lidl, with 35 per cent of the public calling it ‘an absolute cracker’… Let’s wait for the new year follow-up, in which Polly’s up in front of HR, shall we? I’m off to stockpile mince pies but I’ll be back next week with more.