I hope this isn’t the main Littlewoods Christmas Advert for 2011
Although this is was one of my favourite songs as a lad, Terry Scott from Terry and June, if I remember correctly. This really is pretty crass
Almost as bad as last years truly awful Argos Christmas advert with a Bing Crosby lookalike beat boxing.
Littlewoods Christmas Video 2011
i fink this is disgusting i have 3 children who now think there is no santa because the children in this add say there mother buys them there gifts!!!!!! thank you very much littlewoods would you likw to explain theres no santa to my chilldren????????????????????????
Who killed-off Santa with abject usary,
Replaced him with loss and family misery,
Who used debt as a way to make you free,
The Vultures with THAT adverrrrrt.
Who killed-off Rudolph and the other eight,
Who replaced love with worry on-the-slate,
Who used Grandad and your kids to make the bait,
The Vultures with THAT adverrrrrt.
i actually like the advert as a sister with 2 younger brothers and sisters they dont know nothing bout the parents putting stuff under the tree my mum loves the advert and so does my dad! Lighten up! Its Christmas!
MY PERSONAL OPIONION…
DEAR LAURA U SMACKTAURA
OK
WHERE SHOULD WE START
OK LETS START HERE
NO HERE ACTUALLY
NO HERE! OK
YOU SRE A SMELLY OAF THAT SITS IN A TREE ALL DAY PLAYING WITH UR TOES .. UR A TRAMP WHO SITS ON A BIT WAITING FOR PEOPLE TO PUT SANDWHICHES IN!
I also think the advert is shocking. It’s all about MUM. me and my wife have four girls and my wife doesn’t work due to looking after them . So that makes me the money earner. So it’s not all about MUM. So I has DAD have to pay fir Christmas but according to your advert there’s no mention of dad paying for anything. Even to the point my 6 year old said to me the other day just after the advert. I don’t like you daddy because mummy gets all my presents. THANKS ALOT !!!!
Just complained about this advert to asa. It is disgusting. It clearly say “who puts the presents under the tree? Our lovely mother!” This is true of coarse but as a father of 3 young children I was fuming. I do not want a money grabbing bunch of scrooges determining when or how my children stop believing. So angry with the inconsiderate fools.
This advert is vile.
Fuelling the lie that Christmas is about how much a child gets.
Who uses these catalogue companies the most? People who can’t afford to buy expensive Christmas gifts any other way. So is that what constitutes a ‘lovely mother’? A woman who over extends the family budget buying the latest gizmos and gadgets at over inflated prices and paying them off forever more?
Is a ‘lovely mother’ valued because she buys expensive gifts? What a horrible ethos.
Makes me stop and reflect how grossly over commercialised Christmas has become.
DISTGUSTING !!!
As a father of three young children, DUMFOUNDED that a Company such as LITTLEWOODS would promote the notion that there is no Santa !!! Further, that it is only the children’s ‘lovely mother’ who buys the gifts. No mention of poor old Daddy, working his a**e off to put gifts ‘under the tree’
Supposing you have a 70% off sale, I shall not be procuring any gifts to put ‘under the tree’, incidently, nor shall the children’s ‘lovley mother’
Littlewoods ….. More like ‘Little Thought past profit!
Incidenlty … I BELEIVE !
Yours
S Clause
Aha This is the stupidest advert ever
How dare Littlewoods suggest that I do not exist! I exist in every parent who works hard to provide for their children every Chrismas. No matter how rich or poor, parents across the country… across the world pull out all the stops for their little ones. It is NOT about how much money you spend, it is about how much love you give. How much thought is put into each and every gift. Mums, Dads and relatives of all ages, I implore you to boycott this vile store with their crass, hurtful and greed-fuelled adverts and give your children something they really love… your time, your attention and your love.
Mt ggod wife (Mary Christmas) an I work hard all year with our elves to bring joy to choildren around the world. we do not want to see it undermined and ruined by commercial fat cats who get greedier with every pound profit they make.
Anyway, you can guarantee that no matter how expensive the present is, the kids will end up playing with the boxes they came in instead… Ho Ho Ho!
Merry Christmas to you all.
SC.
Shhhh Father Christmas don’t let Littlewoods know that or they will start charging extra for the boxes
and to anyone who’s Christmas Spirit has been quashed…watch this one it will revve it in a couple of minutes!
http://www.v1seo.co.uk/11/john-lewis-christmas-advert-2011/
our not santa claus though..:L
I cannot believe that Littlewoods can simply ruin christmas for kids in 3 minutes. My daughter was on the cusp of questioning santas existence and now, thanks to littlewoods, after seeing this advert, JOB DONE!! Why is this all about mothers spending money and how we will spend most of next year paying it off. I love the hype of christmas and getting the kids all excited but I can honestly say that this year I feel so strongly about Littlewoods advert that it has completely ruined my christmas spirit.
I like it… LOL lighten up….
Give over. It is awful
Ha ha, I’ve just read all of the negative comments about this advert…….people really do need to lighten up! It’s Christmas and I think the advert is fab and very catchy.
No it is not and it’s not about people needing to lighten up. The Marketing people who made this ad are unscrupulous! First of all suggesting that Mother – (no mention of Father) puts all the presents under the tree, secondly, suggesting that it is normal for mother to be able to spend thousands on presents and lastly, suggesting that mother should also get herself into thousands of pounds worth of debt to buy everyone really expensive presents. Never mind lightening up. I want it removed from the media NOW!
does it matter who actually pays for the presents a family should be a unit and as long as children believe then they should only see it as an advert i think u should all just chill out
shut up andy! you idiot
well the kids did believe until they saw this advert …..i wont be buying from them !!! thanks for upsetting my kids for xmas littlewoods hope they remove this advert quick so many people i know cant understand why they would want to upset kids by doing this …?????
i like this advert its very catchy n in my situation its also very true – my son knows that its all bout me, not because littlewoods told him it was but because his dad doesnt support him. He is also at an age where he doesn’t believe in santa either so this advert doesn’t offend me.
I can however understand peoples reactions to it especially those with “santa age” children, I wouldn’t appreciate a catalogue company destroying santa for my son if he was at a believing age. A little unfair of littlewoods to disregard santa n daddy for so many children.
Obviously people who thnk we should “lighten up” about this advert have no children of their own otherwise they would realise how special christmas is for parents as much as children whilst they still believe is santa, this advert is yet another example of making money is all that matters, thanks Littlewoods you just lost yoursef a customer!!!
Thats true! Im fifteen and yeah of course i know about the “santa secret”
but i dont think its that much of a problem my little brother whos six sings it with me and hasnt got a clue people do need to lighten up its just a bit of fun all the children that are getting upset bout it need to get a grip, the parents need to realise there the ones lying, littlewoods isnt in the wrong they are.
get a grip so your chilldren found out that you have been telling lyes to them and anyway but i do agree that it makes out that your only a luvley mother if you buy them expensive toys as one of my freinds did this last year and is still having to do two jobs now and hardly having any family time and will be working on christmas day and if you put a laptop on grampas knee there so shaky that it would ethier fall of or hed have no idia how to use it but stop givving littlewoods a hard time as its a great advert come off it if you have nothing better to do than slag them
No you are so very very wrong,i saw the look of confusement on my kids faces when they saw the ad and my heartsank,its probably someone like you that came up with the idea, stupid stupid people!
Really disappointed in this advert!!!
My husband and I work very hard at keeping Santa alive!!
I really hope they will stop showing it soon or change it.
Kids grow too fast as it is, why take away their dreams.
I was OUTRAGED at this AWFUL advert. As a child I remember having my belief in santa quashed by my younger sister and how upset I felt. What right does a company have to destroy the magic? I hope it gets taken off air soon and the idiots involved apologise.
This goes to Nicola, who commented about people ‘lightening up’
You are clearly either; 1) a person with no kids, 2) a bad mother (who probably shops at Littlewoods), 3) Part of the team who commissioned the retarded (meant in the real sense of the word) advertising agency.
This brief for an ad is clearly shortsighted and missed placed, or very clever and selfish as we are now all talking about Littlewoods, and of course, all publicity is good publicity, particularly if the key message is about mums shopping for cheap. I hope, for the sake of Littlewood’s long-term brand image, it is genuinely the first of the two possible causes.
I am a young single guy and I can clearly empathise with the other people’s comments on here. You do not need children to realise how low-life this advert is, you just need to have experienced a Christmas as a young child believing in Father Christmas….
One day, i hope you realise that this is a truly awful excuse for an avert and should be considered a case study for any advertising agencies to follow when wanting to avoid branding their client with these words:
thick; short-sighted; selfish; ignorant; oblivious; cheap; low-life… absolute ars*holes (particularly the marcomms team)
Anyway, here’s to a good christmas, all.
Absolutely disgusted with this advert…someone purposely trying to take away the wonderful spirit of christmas and take away the great belief in father christmas!!…this has been aired for days now giving children plenty of time to doubt their belief…thankyou very much littlewoods.
Lauren Armstrong – Mother of three
f*** off haters!!!! this advert is amazing!
Have you got a problem?
this adverts amazing get over it i stopped beleving in santa when i was four that means every parent here has lyed to there kids i have kids and they love the advert they sing along are mums not alloud to buy presents also i am from a poor back ground and i found out because i was getting litte packets of pens for christmas whille other rich kids were getting drum kits bike ect so i thought i was bad or there was sumthing up with me and that was why i wasnt getting as good present so i got told
heellooo all you lot suck urselfs uu ogres this advert is amazinggggg dw bout little brats santa they will find out soon anyway .. thank uu bo
xxxxxxx <3<3<3
i love it:L who put the presents under the tree… MY LOVELY LOVELY MOTHER.
It is not, cant you see? Children who watch it now may not believe in father clause and its saying the mother puts all of the presents under the tree- what about the fathers? who’s with me on this???
I LOVE this advert… XD
I think this advert is simply brilliant, and people saying that it is stopping kids believing in santa, it is your doing for letting them watch the television and it doesn’t say that santa isn;t real, obviously you buy your kdis a few presents and santa doesn’t deliver to dad or grandad, so shut up haters.
santa’s watching:-)
Who on earth thought of this advert, I have turned off the radio in the car with my children listening and still cant believe the tv advert, using children to sing the words! I have never seen or heard anything so disheartening to promote your company. Major fail!
Linda Armstrong
your the major fail so get over it
Why U Getting so emoshinal change the channel when it comes on, they’ll find out one day !
foolish parents.
Hope you are never a parent! Your attitude and your spelling is absolutley atrocious!
you spelt it wrong pauline:L
I have 3 children and I am disgusted that Littlewoods would even consider running such an ad. With the day and age we live in now it is difficult enough keeping the dream of Santa alive without companies such as this being so selfish and greedy. Not only have they fulfilled their need to try and gain profit from children here, but they have also discriminated against fathers and other family and friends by suggesting that only ‘MUMMY’ buys gifts – appalling. I will NEVER shop at Littlewoods again and would urge people to follow suit. People who care about their CHILDREN being CHILDREN for a s long as possible should complain to ASA to have this advert removed from our screens. Children should be allowed a childhood for as long as possible and selfish acts like this deter this from happening.
Appalling and should not be shown – it completely ruins the magic of Christmas for young children and I can’t understand how an advert along these lines could have been approved.
Thanks a lot Littlewoods, Christmas is a hard time of year for me and My children,
As their mother died at Christmas! So it was a magical time for them to forget and think of Santa Claus!
I’m bloody pissed off with company’s like you not thinking about what might happen if you go ahead with an idea,
And that was the best you could come up with! “idea” let’s think of an advert that will tell all the children that believe in Santa Claus that he does not exist! Magical!
somepeople are unreal its not only littlewoods. and do you eant your children finding out now and not being fased then getting to 14 and being so shocked they also could be ridiculed. anyway are littlewoods bringing up your children
I tell my children that the people they love buy their presents and that they send them to Santa who decides if they have been well behaved enough to get them. If your kids beleive Santa buys them everything, how can they possibly appreciate the true values of christmas – Giving and recieving.
I agree with all these comments. Myself and my husband where disgusted that this advert was shown when our children where watching (age 9, 6 and 2). I hope you are very proud of yourselves for destroying every young childs believe in father christmas all for the sake of your christmas sales. I have an account with yourselves and i will certainly be writing a letter of complaint and will not be making anymore purchases from yourselves. I am utterly disgusted with your company.
The ad agency that did this ad should hang it’s head in shame…. simply the worst advert ever.
What I hate most about this advert is the message it has created
“If you don’t buy your kids the specific branded expensive items they demand then you are an unfit Mother”
It turns the whole idea of Christmas and giving presents from a positive experience into a negative one.
The kids come across as spoilt little brats – so why would you want to shop there, as by doing so you are saying your own kids are spoilt little brats and you are a weak mother as you give in to that behaviour! If they were my kids and acted in that way they would find they would be getting nothing on christmas day!
This advert has no class, no good feeling, and would make me go out of my way NOT to shop at Littlewoods and indeed slag them off on social media! It has changed the way I feel about the store as struggling old shop catering for poor people to a money grabbing store exploiting poor people. Previously I might have supported the store out of sympathy – now, I would go out of my way to tell people to boycott it.
I will be interested to see if the Head of Marketing at at Littlewoods will be brave enough to pull this advert.. but they probably won’t stick their neck out to save the day.
get over ya self ya big soft people i have 4 kids get a grip
how old?
thanks littlewoods for taking away the magic of Christmas,when your advertising people where 6/7 years old did they get told it’s mother who puts the presents under the tree,,,,,, don’t think so, never want to buy from your company or linked company’s.
This advert is terrible and should be took off the t.v. It is basically saying that mum does everything and santa isnt involved at all. I have a 6 year old who would clearly understand this advert. What right does a advert have to tell children santa doesnt exist? It is taking all the magic of christmas out of it for them. And what about dads? Do they do nothing? Disgraceful advert, Should be banned.
I think this advert is awful … Clearly states that MOTHERS buy the presents for the children and not santa!
I dont think Littlewoods thought it through before publishing this advert … My neice is now questioning me asking “Is santa real? or has Mummy been lying”? i dont know what i am supposed to say to her!
- also what about the children who have been featured in the advert? what do they believe now??
Mums and Dads all over the world keep SANTA alive by encouraging their chidren to believe, and now look whats happening! Years of work have been pushed away because of this advert – should be taken off the TV its a disgrace!!!!!!
Wholeheartedly agree with all the negative commenters. It’s a cheap and nasty ad whose sole remit is financial gain through mind games. Sadly the minds left perplexed are those of the children who view it, not to mention the message it transmits to parents. It also denigrates fathers who have enough lack of status alreadly to contend with. I too have complained to the ASA
Having seen this advert for the first time this evening, I agree that it is does quash the meaning of Christmas for our little ones. Having said that, should this advert be questioned by my 3 year old, my response will be sensible and rational – After all and being just 3 years old, she is still rather impressionable and I’m sure that she will beleive Mummy (and Daddy) when I say that Santa does exist! Or switch the TV off, open a nativity book and tell the story of Christmas instead.
From the moment I saw this advert I didn’t like it…and I don’t even have any children…it completely takes away the magic of Christmas for any little kids listening…somethings have to remain special….Children do grow up of course and realise the thruth but can’t we keep it a secret for a little while longer for them…I do have children in my family and would switch it off if they were in the room…not a good feedback for Littlewoods I think….
Littlewoods – whilst I appreciate the sentiment that mothers are lovely, the fact that you’ve managed to “out” Father Christmas is, quite frankly, unforgivable. WHAT were you thinking?! Add to that the hugely long list of horribly expensive gifts you list and completely missing out the real message of Christmas (whether you follow the Christian message and/or whether it’s a holiday about family, sharing and togetherness), your message seems to be one of encouraging overspending and mercenary children! GET IT OFF THE AIR!!
i dont know whyy every one is freaking out over a catolauge tbh i thing about mother is true you dont get many men that would shop from a catolouge and i think the advert is cute !!!
Sorry for the length of this post – this is my most current reply from LITTLEWOODS concerning my ongoing complaint. I am of the belief now that they are enjoying the negative publicity. Their response does not satisfy my initial complaint. They’ve lost my custom for life.
Email removed….
Message from V1 SEO Webmaster.
Thank you for the comment Amanda, but unfortunately I cannot include private emails you have received without the permission of the person who sent it to you.
Feel free to paraphrase and provide the gist of the email, but do not copy extracts from it or include any personal names
End of Message from Webmaster of V1 SEO
OK, Here are parts of the response I have received from Littlewoods so far:
“……..regarding our Littlewoods Christmas television advert, your comments have been duly noted.
Please accept my sincere apologies for any upset or disappointment caused. I’d like to assure you that this was not intended.
It was never our intention for the advert to come across that Father Christmas does not exist. The advert is meant to be a light hearted take on Christmas and how the family comes together at this time of year. While the wording of the song focuses on Mother, the advert is about the entire family and not just how children receive their gifts at Christmas.
We would never want to suggest that Father Christmas doesn’t exist and we researched our idea thoroughly and found out that each family has different Christmas traditions. For example some families told us that Father Christmas brings the presents in the stocking but family and friends place gifts under the tree, or that Father Christmas brings presents but Mum and Dad always bought one present for the children, as well as the gifts for the family.
Your comments concerning the adverts theme and the pressure on the mother to provide for her children during the current economic climate have been noted. It was never our intention for it to come across in this way as the gifts featured were selected to show the range of products available at Littlewoods and as gift inspiration for different family members. Our intention was never to put any pressure on Mum, or anyone else in the family, but simply to present Littlewoods as an option for this Christmas with our interest free weekly payment options, which can be a huge help to some families however big or small their Christmas may be.
The toys shown in the advert range in price from £55 for the Fijit to the £129 for the Xbox Kinect, and we have a huge range of other toys available as well as numerous offers over the Christmas period such as 3 for 2 on toys and half price toys, all with the aim of providing further options and choice to families this Christmas.
We carefully considered and thoroughly researched the idea for our advert with our customers, and the research showed that our customers understood that we weren’t trying to put any pressure on them to purchase, but merely to provide inspiration and options for Christmas, presented in a fun, light hearted way .
Once again, I am sorry for any upset caused and can assure you this was not our intention”.
Sorry Littlewoods, it was wrong, wron, wrong………
Like it says, it doesn’t EVER mention that santa doesn’t exist, all it says is mother puts the presents under the tree-which is true- as a child my parents put presents under the tree, I ALSO received presents from santa in a bag sat next to tree or underneath. I now do this with do with my children! Dear me…………what a nitpicking society we live in.
What worries me is the low levels of literacy displayed by almost all of the posters her, although some examples are quite amusing, for example:
i fink this is disgusting
missed placed
This is true of coarse
DUMFOUNDED
Getting so emoshinal
I’m sure these are excellent parents (despite lying to their children about the existence of fictional characters) but I do hope that their children are getting a good education at school. I also hope their children’s faith in them won’t be destroyed when they find that they have been lying about the existence of the aforesaid fictional characters.
I think the little girl is adorable.
“What worries me is the low levels of literacy displayed by almost all of the posters her” [sic]
Sorry, couldn’t resist
Oh please you must be whiter than white, its about Christmas and making this time of year a little bit more magical, you obviously didn’t get the train set you wanted. Merry Christams to you x
What?!
@Nicola, is that all you can worry about, literacy! Upset about ya presents are ya! Add that into your little list of literacy, ya!
littlewoods arent ruining christmas you are moaning about peoples spelling when was DIS (shove that up ur spelling arse) a spelling chat and anywayz its an advert so mabby they did rong but get over it all ma family luv it aye ya wee ****** ****** *** im puttin in stars cos u wouldent be able to take a sweare as ur goin on sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo x9999999999999999999 much bout stupid ****** spelin ya weee ***
This advert should be banned. As a mother of 3 young children I know that childhood is precious and thanks to Littlewoods, a lot of children won’t be waking up with the magical belief of Santa this Christmas morning. You’ve lost my custom, that’s for sure.
I think it is disgusting, children don’t believe in Santa because of this advert. I have a blinking good mind to complain to the ASA. What silly person decided on that song for a daytime advert?
@Julie, I know, definitely should be banned, I will also not be shopping there again.
Littelwoods advert wow thats great, ive spent years waiting until the kids go to bed to put the Christmas presents under the tree, scatter the carrot that Rudolphs been eating, half eat the mince pie that santa’s been nibbling, building the magic for my little ones, and they chuck an advert out like that, magic just destroy the myth of Christmas, nice one Littlewoods, me for one will never ever buy from them again aslong as i draw breath, and i will ensure as many people i know hear about this, bad news travels faster. You selfish Bastards, pull the advert now before you go out of business, look at the other comments. Market Research guys come on get the basics right, Money Money Money LOL
I just cannot believe they showing this advert. Cannot believe it. If you want to get back into the Christmas spirit just watch the coca cola Christmas advert, that is a lovely amazing advert. Unlike stupid littlewoods. Oh, and it is an absolute disgrace to just announce to the nation that he doesn’t exist, and even if there are some kids who are at the age where they are not sure, littlewoods just flaming confirmed it. Nice one littlewoods, ban this advert, the amount of customers you have lost, wake up and delete this awful advert, not even just on at night, right throughout the day. Hope your happy littlewoods you simple idiots, you are as thick as two short planks.
@Marcus, yeah I know it is pretty bad, but wouldn’t go as far as to say simple idiots.
The ad is certainly grim. What I find more depressing, however, is the spelling in some of the above comments. ‘Emoshinal’? Good grief.
@Anna, the ad is a discrace, not emotional, or emoshional.
u go mm9
LOL. Someone has started an e-petition saying Ban the Littlewoods Christmas Advert – http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/23016
@spike I don’t blame them. The advert is awful and needs erasing. I think the ad is terrible, and my 8 year old brother is now questioning Santa’s existence.
What is wrong with you haters? Other people like it you know. Why don’t you all go and sit in the corner and wait for anyone to give a damn.
they better bring there lifes with them oh yea they dont have any as there getting so fussed about an advert
My children are just getting to the age where the whole magic of Christmas is really kicking in.
I can’t believe that this advert is allowed to air. Is it setting out to ruin the whole thing for our kiddies? If not then really, what is the point.
Scrooge appears to live on, in the minds of the morons that firstly came up with this ad, but perhaps even more so with those thinking it was anythimng other than a bad idea.
This advert shouuld be withdrawn immediately.
Stop being such a stuck up cow!,
santas in the video get over it!
silly cow
I as a child aged 12 thought the advert was amazing and I have read the above comments and was outraged that people thought that it was bad. It was really good and cute, i loved it well done….dont take it off the air as all adverts have their faults. In this case the advert has no mention of dad and father christmas but it doesn’t really matter, me my little sister and my cousins all love it and its a really catchy song which i sing all the time! Thanks
Lily
<3
totally agree
well said 12year old im 65 and i sing along with the kids its fantastic
Awful song for advert, even though a lovely picture. On YouTube check out my video called: Parma violet in water- reaction? And also 180 dart today.
everyone shut up this advert is cute with the little kids singing i like this advert so leave littlewoods alone i think they did well with this ad
Yeah you probably work for littlewoods ye simpleton.:( <3
I am a mother of three little boys age 8, age 5 and age 3… We were all sat watching T.V and this advert came on, my oldest said so there isnt a Santa mam, my middle child said mam i thought Santa brought us the presents and my youngest child started to cry thinking he wouldnt be getting any presents off Santa…. I was then left to explain to my children that there is a Santa and reassure them that they will be getting presents off Santa. I think this advert you have produced to make money from your store is absoulty disgusting and shouldnt be showed on T.V!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did this ACTUALLY happen??????????????????????????? or are you making it up for dramatic effect!
an 8 year old beliving in santa is just sad anyway i bet ur lying
think this ad should be banned .i for one wont buy from them again
.you should all complain about ad to get removed
This one advert sums up a huge slice of everything wrong with today’s society. The children watching this advert today will be the ‘rioters’ of 2021.
(I say ‘rioters’ because the vile feral vermin who were labelled that back in August were not actually rioting. Rioters are motivated by an ideology that seeks change. These pieces of human excrement were in it for nothing more than committing mass vandalism, arson, burglary and theft.)
who put an xbox under the tree who got a fidget just for me and who put a laptop on grampas knee my mothere yoyo ma mother got an optomas prime for ben a htc for uncle ken a fuji camara for en my mothers wicked who got dad a d and g and who got herself jelery my lovley lovley mother
I don’t think the advert is meaning that santa does not exist. I have an 8 year old and he still believes in santa and he has seen this advert lots of times he calls me his lovely mother instead of mum now which i find is sweet. This advert is saying that a majority of MUMs go out and buy the presents for other family members, i know i do in my household,
Not once does it say santa is not real or exist i think it depends how people read into it or maybe if parents sat down and explained that well not all presents come from santa and this advert is just showing this
havent your kids been told at school already? :L
I don’t understand why people are saying this ad will stop children believing in Father Christmas – in our house FC brought the presents in our stockings (which are not mentioned in the ad) and our mum bought the presents under the tree (and for the rest of the family). Yes, I agree Christmas shouldn’t be just about presents (but then this is an ad for a shop!) and of course dads buy presents too but I don’t see what it’s got to do with FC. Maybe the presents under your tree come from FC but traditionally he leaves presents in stockings not under the tree, so the people that made this ad probably weren’t even thinking about him.
I totally agree with everyone here when they say that they disagree with the LittleWoods advert. I found out that Santa wasn’t real when I was around 11. For a whole decade, Christmas was more exciting than ever because the big chunky man with the white fluffy hair and big red suit and boots would come to every house with bags full of presents. Then, eventually I found out, but I now have a step sister the age of 5, who now knows that Santa isn’t real. She doesn’t even think the mums and dads get the presents. She just cannot WAIT for ‘Holly and Fearne’ to come down the chimney. Gee, well done LittleWoods, you might get your money but you won’t get your respect. Christmas is spoiled for kids.
Oh my god Littlewoods I can’t actually believe you would produce such a bad advert. Everything is wrong with it ! I never blog.. But this has driven me to voice my comments. I agree with all the other comments that have been posted and will never shop at littlewoods again. I don’t have children but feel very sorry for the children that have seen this load of rubbish. It’s totally wrong.. And if I hear ” your lovely muver ” again I think it will just tip me over the edge. Can we not get children to pronounce things properly ? Yet another massive fail… And shame on you littlewoods for ruining Christmas !! PLEASE REMOVE THIS ADVERT before it upsets any more family’s …. It’s so very wrong.
I am appauled by this advert and the VERY advert as well…..I have started a page on facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/198089943603630/
I work in advertising and I too am APPALLED by this advert for all the reasons mentioned above (singling mum out over dad, black kids rapping, destroying the Santa story, rampant consumerism etc). However, this is a mess purely of Littlewoods’ own making. They talked to ad agencies earlier in the year but then decided to produce their ads themselves. This is the result.
Ironically, Littlewoods claim to be focusing on Young Families and according to their brand director Gary Kibble is deliberately targeting “families with low incomes”. Quite how a family on a low income would cope in 2012 after “mum’s” £2k splurge on credit is anyone’s guess.
They’re not singing though, are they? They’re rapping. Small children. Forced to perform a genre of music that usually glamourises guns and prostitution, and in this case they are glamourising greed and the over-commercialisation of Christmas. It’s appalling.
I don’t have kids, but I don’t think children should be drawn into rap music at such an early age when gun crime in the UK is increasing, and I also think that exposing them to capitalism and greed is also corrupt.
But then, I guess we’re all just walking targets for companies that want to milk us like a tasty, tasty cash cow.
wait a minute nw your givving rapping a bad name rappings great and think of say rissle kicks when did they promote guns in the song/raps what about never
i hate the advert..not because it makes the mum look shes the only one who does anything or that father christmas might not be real after all, but for the fact that the kids sound ike semi-illiterate scuzzballs-to-be. we want our kids to still believe in santa but let them speak like eminem and all that chav, ‘in da hood’ speak with associated attitude..and i cant abide the ugly kid at the end who cant say ‘mother’ properly!
I hate this advert too for ruining Christmas for children.
And it’s promoting stereotyping as well. Oh look, let’s make the little black boy into a rapper because that’s what all black boys want to be.” Ugh.
There’s no doubt this advert is pretty shocking. Personally, the tune really bugs me as much as anything else but it wasn’t until many of you mentioned the deconstruction of belief in Santa that I really started to question it from that perspective too.
The thing that concerns me the most, is the obvious unconstrained message of consumerisms and the resulting brainwashing of children who are used as a tool to put pressure on their parents to afford extremely expensive gifts in the spirit of Christmas.
Personally, I think Littlewoods deserve all the backlash for this advert they get as they have revealed themselves to be both desperate and corrupt and the advert should be banned.
Yeah!!! Complain to ASA!!! I have a good mind to the advert is awful:) <3
I’ve worked in Marketing Communications teams for large companies for 15 years+ and all I can say is, ‘Littlewoods Marcomms Team, WTF were you thinking??’
WTFIWWTSPWCTAUTATDAIACTTASAIEOPWITTCAA
What the F*** is wrong with the stupid people who commissioned this advert unbelievable that a ? talented design agency is as c*** that they accept something as insensitive especially once people with inteligence ? ? Cristmas after all.
As the doctor said, I went a bit wobbly at the end there, was I close though ?
Pingback: Ban the Littlewoods Christmas Advert e-petition on direct.gov.uk
Words fail me………………………. Calm down its Christmas!!!! And by pulling the advert as most of you want, you would be ruining the Christmas of all those little actors/actresses, as written earlier it never actually says santa doesn’t exist.
I never normally comment on this type of sites but I felt I had to. I have to young children that believe in santa and they love this advert!! And so do all their little friends at school they are all singing the song and talking about how great it is!!
I’ve never ever read such harsh words about a television ad. Surely it’s the parents responsibility to ensure their children believe and there are some very simple explanations to give them!!
I can not quite believe the comments above, and to the person that said: you either do not have any kids or your bad parents if you like this advert I think that is more offensive than anything in the advert!! That comment should be banned!!
The comments on this page are so narrow minded!! I also agree with the person that commented on the kids that appear on the advert. The kids are fantastic.
i agree and if it gets banned what are the kids who were in the advert going to think was i not good enough??? did i muck up???? was it all my fault?????
Get a grip people! How on earth could this stop a child from believing? Are you telling me that you parents don’t buy a single gift for your child from yourselves and that every present under that tree is from Father Christmas? No I didn’t think so. Our son has seen this ad over and over and has never questioned it! My husband is certainly not offended that it sings about only the Mother, he may provided the pennies, but the choosing, buying and wrapping of the presents year after year is done by myself.
well i think this advert looks and sonds amazing and if yo dont like it deal with it…..x
As if the advert isn’t sickening enough from the off, they then feel the need to spice it up with ‘urban’ content, and further promote to children the idea that wearing idiotically expensive clothes, making moronic hand gestures, and speaking unintelligibly is ‘cool’ and glamorous. I’m glad I’m never having kids as it seems like there’s just no way anymore to protect them from the influence of the ‘urban’ culture cancer that’s spread through the country like wildfire.
I don’t have any children, but I am utterly appalled by this advert. They’ve taken the traditional “end of term play”, which would commonly be the nativity, the real story of how Christmas came to be, and turned it into an utter farce of mindless, consumerist nonsense.
I don’t believe in God, and am of no religion, but I certainly don’t believe that Christmas should be about having the latest overpriced gadgets and gizmos. Having a child sing about an “HTC” and a “D&G watch” is repulsive viewing: a child of that age shouldn’t be concerned with labels and brands.
I hadn’t even thought of the “what about fathers” argument, but having read others who have posted, I completely agree, and I am glad others feel as negatively as I do about this.
About time people start telling people the real meaning of Christmas! It’s Jesus Christ
no one can deny that this advert will ruin many childrens beleifs this christmas, so why the hell did littlewoods think it ok to commision and accept.
they obviously dont give a shit what parents with young children think.
i suggest you boycott the Store.
BOYCOT the store what have they done this is why were in a credit crunch people like you nit picking and then giving bad press how nice of you and anyway i think the kids are cute and there great are mums not aloud to give presents????
littlewoods your sick what u trying if my kid hears your add your have a lot to answer to sort it out remove the advert BLOODY SORT IT OUT
Here’s my thoughts on the Littlewoods advert in the form of a letter I sent directly to Littlewoods Marketing and to Littlewoods customer support:-
http://bodybag66.blogspot.com/2011/11/littlewoods-advert.html
You don’t like it then?
okaaay
) ……. bzyx u xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx brats=
uu ogres can suck poo …. these little bratzz are going to find out about santa soon
iloveu santaaa (even no ur fake)
Harsh words <3 #amazeballs
To be honest I don’t see the fuss I’m 13 and I know that it’s all fake and everything BUT your mums/dads buy presents aswell as ‘santa’. Mums and dads aren’t not going to get their sons/daughters anything! My 6 year old brother still believes in santa after watching this!
i’m 13 too and i don’t see the fuss either. i think it is ok for children to know santa is not real i mean they are going to have to know some day so why not now !!!
If you dont wanna read the whole song, look at the end. But personally, I love the song and so does all of the young ones that I know who dont care about the words)
Who put an x-box under the tree?
And who brought an fidget just for me?
And who put an laptop on grandpas knee?
My mother!
Yo yo yo! My mother brought an Optimus Prime for Ben!
A HTC for Uncle Ken.
My Mother brought a fuji camera for Jen!
My mothers wicked!
Who brought Dad a D&G
And who’s got to go to court at 3?
My skint and in Debt Mother……
That’s it, no one believes in Santa any more, the one thing that keeps a little wondr in a childs life
This is the most materialistic advrt ever made. This makes out that mums do all the providing of presents for their children, are we living in a single parent society where the mums leave the kids with childminders while thy are the sole breadwinner and in any case, what happened to Santa Claus. This advert is disgusting. It also teaches children that the main reason for Christmas is how much they can acquire on the big day. How many parents tell their children about Jesus being born on Christmas day, infact I think in years to come no one wwill even believe in either Santa or God as all people just think of is theirselves. Also I note on this site how many people can’t spell. How can you teach your offspring to spell when you can’t spell yourselves?
This advert is a total disgrace! Total exploitation and utter disregard for the thousands of families with young children that will see it.
It has prompted my 5 year old boy to declare “Father Christmas isn’t real is he?”. Also; “mummy, you buy all the presents and put them under the tree don’t you?” It doesn’t take Miss Marple to work out how he came up with these questions.
Littlewoods have ruined the magic of Christmas for so many children. I will never shop at Littlewoods again and hope they have their worst ever set of Christmas trading results on the back of it. In fact I feel so angered by this, that I actually hope that they go out of business.
come on people it is not that bad and anyway isnt it ok for chilrden to know that father christmas is not reall!! i mean your going to have to tell them some day so why not now ???? your chilrden need to know that you buy the presents and not santa. i mean i know some one who thinks unicorns are real! and there 12!!!!!! so telling your children santa aint real may do them alot of good for the future.
HAHA they put an xbox ….
AS KINECT haha
i think this advert is bad because as a child most of us know there is no santa but for little kids its the excitement of Christmas for them so tell them when they are a bit older but this is really what they look forward to at christmas getting presents of Santa. plus my dad buys me presents aswell as my mum so now people are just going to think now that dads are horrible and don’t buy presents for anyone so little kids are going to start hating their dad but loving their mum which is sad for the dads being told that they are hated by their child
I can’t get my head around all this ridiculous fuss about this advert. YES the ad isn’t ideal but they’re not going to withdraw it so stop your flapping and chillax people – deal with it!
The argument about the ad promoting consumerism is ridiculous. If people want to continue to kid themselves that Christmas isn’t all about the presents for children, go ahead but the truth is, the vast majority of little Ben’s out there really DO want an expensive Optimus Prime toy, just as most of the Jen’s have their heart set on that Fuji camera – sad as it may be, it’s the truth – and it’s not entirely the fault of Littlewoods – it’s just the times we live in.
Here’s a script for all you parents out there who appear to be so distraught at the thought of having to put a little effort into reassuring your little kids. In this day and age there are plenty of times in a child’s life that they are going to ask questions that are tough to answer – getting your act together and being a little inventive is part of being a parent!
“Darling, of course Santa is real! The people in the advert mean that the mummies (and daddies) helped poor old Santa out a little this year, maybe his sleigh broke down or Rudolph got the flu so he sent the presents to the dad’s and then they passed them on to the mum’s to put under the tree.”
BOOM! Tackles any Santa/mummy-daddy queries the kids may have.
Whoooooooooooo put an xbox under the tree and who got a fidget just for me and who put a laptop on grampas kneeeeeeeee … my mother .. yo yo my mother got an ptimus prime for ben , a htc for uncle ken , my mother got a fujui camera for jen .. my mothers wicked.. who got dad a d and g , and who got herself some jewelerryyyyyyyyy my lovely lovely motherrrrrrrrrrr