Morrissey allows John Lewis to use Smiths track for Christmas ad campaign

Wow. It actually made me cry. I must be getting old and soft.

If there is such a thing as a beloved song used respectfully and cleverly in a tv ad, this is it.

I was cynical about the whole idea, until I watched the ad. It's sweet.

And for heaven's sake, it is a twenty plus year old song. It's bound to introduce more people to Morrissey and The Smiths, so I can't find anything wrong with that.

The real irony here is one can see with a clever director, what kind of interesting videos Morrissey's music and words lend themselves too. Too bad the man has never cared about music videos, as they would have bolstered his single's success and their chart position - something he has repeatedly asserted is immensely important to him.
 
Yeah, I don't understand how he is a sell out.

I didn't really like the commercial, though. (Nothing to do with the Smiths song, although I didn't feel that it fit the commercial.) Why the pouty-face until Christmas? When I can't wait to give someone their present I make stupid excited face. :)D) I think the commercial would have been cuter with the kid looking really impatient, but excited. And a happy song in the background.

Because the ad appears to be about a kid who cannot wait until Christmas comes. The music was chosen to reenforce this notion, and then at the end, there is a twist: that what the boy has been so impenitent about and excited for is not receiving gifts but giving a gift to his parents.
 
I was ok with it being used until I watched the advertisement. Thought it was too cloying and the child annoying
 
Because the ad appears to be about a kid who cannot wait until Christmas comes. The music was chosen to reenforce this notion, and then at the end, there is a twist: that what the boy has been so impenitent about and excited for is not receiving gifts but giving a gift to his parents.
Yeah, I guess I just can't relate. My little sister and I make happy impatient face each year, and if my sister and I made pouty face the whole month of Christmas my parents would have a talk with us. You know, "You better not shout, you better not cry, you better not pout" or your parents are going to tell you knock of the whining!
I was ok with it being used until I watched the advertisement. Thought it was too cloying and the child annoying
Yeah, I don't care about the song, but I didn't care for the commercial.
 
Because the ad appears to be about a kid who cannot wait until Christmas comes. The music was chosen to reenforce this notion, and then at the end, there is a twist: that what the boy has been so impenitent about and excited for is not receiving gifts but giving a gift to his parents.

I read it differently. The song is sung in the Mothers voice "Good times for a change......" and is sung straight whilst we see her sensitive alienated son. He is the boy that sole her youth and looks and trapped her in a loveless joyless home (.....see the life i've had....) She loves him but more and more she resents and regrets him, (...for once in my life....) his father isn't interested in either of them. The boy is unhappy and lonely growing up isloated and introverted (just like his younger brother) under the shadow of the black cloud of his Mothers depression. All he wants for Christmas is to see his mommy happy (unlike a normal happy child who would want a bike and an xbox please) and for her to smile at least just once. He excitedly waits for the day when he could maybe lift her selfish mood for a moment as she silently looks at the wall and pleads for more out of life than this (...please please please....) but unfortunately no one will get what they want for Christmas this year, not in this house as it is unlikely that the festively wrapped small box in the childs arms will contain either a time machine or a machine gun. Another disappointing Christmas from John Lewis.
Ho Ho Ho Ho Homelessness.
 
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I read it differently. The song is sung in the Mothers voice "Good times for a change......" and is sung straight whilst we see her sensitive alienated son. He is the boy that sole her youth and looks and trapped her in a loveless joyless home (.....see the life i've had....) She loves him but more and more she resents and regrets him, (...for once in my life....) his father isn't interested in either of them. The boy is unhappy and lonely growing up isloated and introverted (just like his younger brother) under the shadow of the black cloud of his Mothers depression. All he wants for Christmas is to see his mommy happy (unlike a normal happy child who would want a bike and an xbox please) and for her to smile at least just once. He excitedly waits for the day when he could maybe lift her selfish mood for a moment as she silently looks at the wall and pleads for more out of life than this (...please please please....) but unfortunately no one will get what they want for Christmas this year, not in this house as it is unlikely that the festively wrapped small box in the childs arms will contain either a time machine or a machine gun. Another disappointing Christmas from John Lewis.
Ho Ho Ho Ho Homelessness.

I realize the irony of me posting this but please tell me you are joking. :straightface:
 
I realize the irony of me posting this but please tell me you are joking. :straightface:

Watch the ad, listen to the song and think about it, do any of them interact or even smile, is there any love in that house? - its clearly her singing not him (thats the twist)
 
Watch the ad, listen to the song and think about it, do any of them interact or even smile, is there any love in that house? - its clearly her singing not him (thats the twist)

The twist is we expect a greedy little boy to want to get gifts, not give. The lack of interaction allows the viewer in the 30 SECONDS they have to identify with the kid FOCUS on him, not his surroundings, it's a type of minimalism used in advertising. I've read your interpretation and and conclude it's just a sweet commercial. The woman's voice is not the mother, unless you're referring to "The Mother" which is God's Wife which is plausible but that's a whole nuther thing I won't clutter the airwaves with dabbling about. :D
 
The twist is we expect a greedy little boy to want to get gifts, not give. The lack of interaction allows the viewer in the 30 SECONDS they have to identify with the kid FOCUS on him, not his surroundings, it's a type of minimalism used in advertising. I've read your interpretation and and conclude it's just a sweet commercial. The woman's voice is not the mother, unless you're referring to "The Mother" which is God's Wife which is plausible but that's a whole nuther thing I won't clutter the airwaves with dabbling about. :D

really? - see how the boy plays alone with a ball like a prisoner in a cell, see the sad eyes, hear the heavy sighs. See how the boy can't sit still, instead he taps and spins and jiggles his leg like a caged animal staved of stimuliation. Watch him stare out of the window alone as the hours and days pass and his brother looks on equally alone. See him play alone on the swing all day in the freezing snow as his Mother looks on listlessly from the warmth of the house. See the father absored by the newspaper as his twitiching son irritates him. See the boy wolf down his peas in silence as the puzzled loveless couple enchange a confused glace, watch as he rushes away from them off to bed without speaking. Ask yourself is this endless slience because they are all just bursting with love for each other?

Remember the song is a desparate lonely plea - it isn't a selfless happy song at all

As the song fades and the boy presents the gift to his non plussed parents (please please please let me let me let me get what i want.............) who is singing (its a womans voice) given the boy apparently doesn't want anything apart from to give his gift?
 
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really? - see how the boy plays alone with a ball like a prisoner in a cell, see the sad eyes, hear the heavy sighs. See how the boy can't sit still, instead he taps and spins and jiggles his leg like a caged animal staved of stimuliation. Watch him stare out of the window alone as the hours and days pass and his brother looks on equally alone. See him play alone on the swing all day in the freezing snow as his Mother looks on listlessly from the warmth of the house. See the father absored by the newspaper as his twitiching son irritates him. See the boy wolf down his peas in silence as the puzzled loveless couple enchange a confused glace, watch as he rushes away from them off to bed without speaking. Ask yourself is this endless slience because they are all just bursting with love for each other?

Remember the song is a desparate lonely plea - it isn't a selfless happy song at all

As the song fades and the boy presents the gift to his non plussed parents (please please please let me let me let me get what i want.............) who is singing (its a womans voice) given the boy apparently doesn't want anything apart from to give his gift?

Well...I guess my therapy for the day is realizing that I love this commercial so much, for the reasons you have outlined, because I identify with it's coldness and longing. It feels like home. :o :tears:

Thanks a lot Dr. smiler for making me all sad at the mall!!!! :p
 
I read it differently. The song is sung in the Mothers voice "Good times for a change......" and is sung straight whilst we see her sensitive alienated son. He is the boy that sole her youth and looks and trapped her in a loveless joyless home (.....see the life i've had....) She loves him but more and more she resents and regrets him, (...for once in my life....) his father isn't interested in either of them. The boy is unhappy and lonely growing up isloated and introverted (just like his younger brother) under the shadow of the black cloud of his Mothers depression. All he wants for Christmas is to see his mommy happy (unlike a normal happy child who would want a bike and an xbox please) and for her to smile at least just once. He excitedly waits for the day when he could maybe lift her selfish mood for a moment as she silently looks at the wall and pleads for more out of life than this (...please please please....) but unfortunately no one will get what they want for Christmas this year, not in this house as it is unlikely that the festively wrapped small box in the childs arms will contain either a time machine or a machine gun. Another disappointing Christmas from John Lewis.
Ho Ho Ho Ho Homelessness.

That was similar to my reading of the advertisement, the house just came across as a terribly sad place to be.
 
Charlie Brooker thinks the present is a wrapped dog's head. He might be right.

I read the ad to say that the mother hopes that this year she'll get a gift she likes rather than the usual crap she receives and then has to plaster a smile on her face so as not to hurt anyone's feelings.
 
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Charlie Brooker thinks the present is a wrapped dog's head. He might be right.

I read the ad to say that the mother hopes that this year she'll get a gift she likes rather than the usual crap she receives and then has to plaster a smile on her face so as not to hurt anyone's feelings.

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The campaign works.
 
The Smiths were never middle class and didn't speak to the middle class either.

Haha, right. Their following was and remains staunchly blue-collar. And of course, that's really the key precondition for getting anything out of the Smiths, it's not as if anybody else can relate to the themes they raise. Besides, it is a well-known fact that people whose parents did not stride the factory floor have no souls.

What utter twaddle.
 
Well...I guess my therapy for the day is realizing that I love this commercial so much, for the reasons you have outlined, because I identify with it's coldness and longing. It feels like home. :o :tears:

Thanks a lot Dr. smiler for making me all sad at the mall!!!! :p

You are welcome but don't be sad (i know you will)
 
Haven't seen the commercial yet. The way you lot are banging on about it sounds like its the 21st Century Citizen Kane. How can an advert be 'tasteful.' Its capitalist exploitation. Next time I'm in John Lewis I'll be sure to stick a quid in the collection tin. For Moz
 
If I were in their position John Lewis would be the company I'd choose.

For the very important reason that the John Lewis Partnership is a worker's co-operative, with profit sharing amongst employees (partners).
It employs all manner of people, is not behoven to Shareholders, PE funds or insane board members. It is (unfortunately) almost unique in this respect and is a wonderful counterpoint to the greedy bastards running the rest of this Capitalist mess. Of course they'd love to see it fail.

I suspect that this had something to do with the decision. I don't shop at JL, but I wish there were more like it.
 
He needs this money to pay his lawyers' legal fees in the libel battle with the NME, so give the guy a break.
 
You are welcome but don't be sad (i know you will)

I went and got an ice cream in the food courst, all was better. :p Eat away the pain!
 
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