Merry Christmas

Every year, viewers eagerly await the Christmas commercials. They are often long, heartwarming and offer emotional storytelling that creates a festive atmosphere. Special attention is paid to the British department store chain John Lewis. Together with the London agency Adam&Eve DDB, it has developed into the real Christmas dream team since 2009. "Monty the Penguin" 2014, "#ManOnTheMoon" 2015 and "#BusterTheBoxer" 2016 are already advertising classics that have not only thrilled an audience in the tens of millions (YouTube), but also the award juries of this world.

Of course, expectations are not diminished by such templates. "#MozTheMonster", this year's campaign, tells the story of the famous monster under the bed that children are often afraid of. However, the monster Moz is lovable, clumsy and quickly becomes a good friend to the boy.

If you read through the YouTube comments, you quickly realize that many viewers are disappointed and had hoped for more. In fact, there is almost only negative feedback. This is rare, as viewers usually find hardly any words to express their emotional enthusiasm under the Christmas spots.

This time there are grumbles about skin color stereotypes, about the (unconfirmed) campaign budget of seven million pounds, about the seemingly pedagogically questionable monster theme, about parents who rob their son of his fantasy friend with a material gift, about increasingly long online web spots, about Christmas campaigns that get worse every year.

The commercial bears the signature of French director Michel Gondry, who is not only an Oscar winner but has also been responsible for numerous advertising classics. The Levi's commercial created in the early 90s "Drugstore" is one of the most awarded commercials in history. Adam & Eve DDB has been working with Gondry on the campaign, which also features an online monster generator, since February: Johnlewismonstermaker.com.

As if the negative feedback from viewers wasn't enough, John Lewis has now also come under fire from the #StopFundingHate movement, which criticizes advertisers who place ads in media that, according to the initiators, promote fear and social division in order to increase circulation.

Buster's backing #StopFundingHate! Please share & urge @JohnLewisRetail to put the bounce back in his Christmas! #StartSpreadingLove #MozTheMonster #BringBackBuster https://t.co/zwwBYLdMBZ pic.twitter.com/UheUigMHa4

- Stop Funding Hate (@StopFundingHate) November 10, 2017

A bit much mo(t)z for a - on balance - actually quite lovable monster. (hae)