We all knew this year's John Lewis advert would be a heartwarming one, and we were right. The department store's festive ads never fail to disappoint [1] or tug at our heartstrings. But 2020 has been a very different year indeed, so for 2020, it's no surprise that the John Lewis ad was slightly different from previous years. The two-minute ad followed eight different animations by commissioned artists that have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, following the common theme of "Give a Little Love".
The animation and live-action film — which is backed by original song "A Little Love", sung by Brit winner Celeste — follows a series of mini stories in which the characters, including a hip-hop pigeon, the kind NHS worker on the bus, and a fun heart-shaped haircut perform small acts of kindness in their every day lives.
John Lewis is also making sure it's giving a little love, too, with the aim of raising £5m over the festive season to help families through redistribution charities FareShare [2] and Home-Start [3]. In addition to that, John Lewis will match customer donations (up to £2m), and profits from the sales of the advert merchandise will go to charity. Items in the "Give a Little Love" collection include a heart-shaped umbrella (seen in the ad), t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, and more. The merch is so popular that it sold out just hours after launching, so here's hoping there's a restock soon because we need to get our hands on that umbrella.
Watch the full John Lewis "Give a Little Love" 2020 Christmas ad above.
