What makes a Christmas ad great?

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman, on Newstalk, with Ciara.

Shane Colman (1:03)

Yeah, some iconic Christmas ads of the past. We're playing that because John Lewis released their 2026 Christmas advert today. But what makes a Christmas ad great? And how has the criteria changed in the age of AI? We're joined by John Fardy, presenter of Screentime. Just before we get to some of those ads that still are so beloved, have you seen the John Lewis ad, John? And what did you make of it?

John Fardy (1:30)

Yeah, it's a slightly weird one. It's Kristen Scott Thomas standing in her hallway, waiting for her grandchildren to come, which they do. She's really happy to see them, but they want to play and disrupt her very middle-class looking house, and she's not sure how to entertain them. So she gets this wooden dog from the attic that they're not really interested in. And then this wooden dog takes her on a kind of magical realism trip around the shops. Then of course she ends up in John Lewis. And then the present, I'm spoiling this now, but I think it's okay.

Shane Colman (2:02)

Oh, you're not, you're fine.

John Fardy (2:03)

It's only three minutes long.

The upshot, the surprise of it is, what she buys them is like a granny's done up room where they've kind of made a grand cave and it's kind of a disco room. And the kids come in and say, yay. And there's tinsel hanging. And I guess the message is, you know, giving is the key.

Shane Colman (2:24)

Don't give up on giving is the tagline at the end of the ad.

John Fardy (2:29)

Yeah. So it's okay. I mean, Kirsten Scott Thomas is a great actress and all. And she seems very granny like in it, because in a pleasing way, the grandmother and anyone want to have. But I wouldn't say it's one of their best ones by any stretch. It's a little odd if I'm being cruel. But look, all these ads, you know, we can talk about how lovely they are, but let's not forget, they're there to flog us stuff. Sorry to sound so...

Shane Colman (2:52)

Yeah, well at least this one actually has a shop in it, which most of them haven't had in recent years. Let's talk about some of the really good ones over the years. You heard the Guinness ad there, which is just so beautifully filmed. You have all these, I suppose, landmark places that we know across the country, Customs House, St. Patrick's Hills, Shandon Bells, the Molly Malone statue, but it's beautifully filmed, isn't it?

John Fardy (3:22)

It's absolutely gorgeous. And you know what, this maybe sounds really pretentious, but it's kind of like Joycean. If you ever read the story The Dead or saw that movie by John Ford, it ends with this person kind of looking all over Ireland on the living and the dead. And in a way, that's like that. It goes from Galway to the Customs House, and then it has that glorious line. I mean, whoever came up with it, they need to be credited for a long time to come. Even in the home of the black stuff, they dream of a white one. I mean, that's, it doesn't get much better than that.

Shane Colman (3:54)

Don't forget to turn the lights off, John.

John Fardy (3:56)

Yeah, no, indeed. I mean, they are flogging us Guinness. As much as I like that ad.

Ciara Kelly (4:01)

There's something lovely about the ads being rolled out every year, though, isn't there? Like the same ads, the ritualistic thing. I don't want, I don't necessarily need new ads. I know John Lewis liked to launch their ad every year, but I don't, and by the way, all I took from it between that and the rape crisis thing was that, God, grandparents, their grandchildren are giving them an awful hard time of where to believe the adverts that are going out at the moment. And I don't really believe that's true.

But there's something lovely about, I like when I hear the Christmas ads come back, because I know we're getting there.

John Fardy (4:33)

Yeah, no, absolutely. And I doubt it's been on yet, but the famous radio ad where Barry's tea involving a train, which I think we all remember, where there's a guy out shopping.

Ciara Kelly (4:45)

Doesn't that pay it banner?

John Fardy (4:47)

Exactly.

Shane Colman (4:48)

Isn't Santa the smart fella?

Ciara Kelly (4:50)

Oh, Shane, you're killing me.

John Fardy (4:52)

Yeah. Peter Clawfrey, brilliant Irish actor, now sadly deceased, remembering his own childhood, getting a steam train and then getting one for his kids and his wife saying, you know. That's not what they want at all. Santa will give them what they want. This is for me. Yeah.