After releasing a 10-second teaser for its highly-anticipated Christmas advert, which showed a wrapped-up Christmas tree being pushed on a skateboard along the sidewalk, on November 10, John Lewis launched the full version.
Titled “The Beginner”, the 90-second video follows a middle-aged man struggling to learn how to skateboard. Viewers might be tempted to think he is in the throes of a midlife crisis as he spends almost all his free time – day and night – trying to get better at his sport, which was completely new for him. However, his efforts, sometimes resulting in bruises, pay off, and manages to learn how to skateboard, without any help.
As the film ends, it turns out he was doing all this in his attempt to connect with a young girl he and his wife are welcoming into his home.
“Over 108,000 children in the UK are in the care system. We’re making a long-term commitment to support the futures of young people from care” onscreen lines read at the end of the advert, which also informs that John Lewis is working in partnership with Action for Children and Who Cares? Scotland. These two charities will receive a quarter of the value of sales of a special toy bear and other products, including a skateboard as shown in the ad, sold by John Lewis.
The soundtrack music is a reworked version of skater pop-punk outfit Blink 182’s 1990s hit single All the Small Things, performed by American singer Mike Geier.
Last year’s Christmas ad from John Lewis featured an alien named Skye who crashed on Earth, near the home of a 14-year-old boy named Nathan, who introduced her to various Christmas traditions, such as eating mince pies, decorating the tree, and wearing novelty jumpers.
