John Lewis has unveiled its Christmas advert for 2022 - and it contains a message we all need to be aware of.
With a cover of Blink-182's All The Small Things by Mike Geier playing in the background, the festive advert features a middle-aged man trying to learn how to skateboard before he welcomes a teenager into his family home.
Entitled The Beginner, the advert keeps us guessing what the man's motive is until the last minute, when young Ellie arrives with a skateboard at his front door accompanied by a social worker, Wales Online reports.
John Lewis said it understood that not all foster carers had the benefit of knowing who they would be looking after in advance and that its broader campaign also featured “authentic voices of carers” and “young people with different experiences of a complex care system”.
But it said that “in a challenging year, we felt it was important to demonstrate that it’s what we do that matters most”, adding it was proud to use its Christmas ad to “generate conversation and action around an often overlooked issue”.
The partnership recently launched the Building Happier Futures programme to assist young people with experience of the care system, including moving into employment.
The ad was created with agency adam&eveDDB, with help from partner charities Action for Children and Who Cares? Scotland. John Lewis has not revealed a budget, and it contains almost no product placement except for two brief glimpses of the retailer’s Lewis Bear toy.
Customers can buy the bear for £30, as well as £19 Lewis Bear pyjamas and a skateboard for £34.99. 25% of the profits will go towards the two affiliated charities. A Giving Tree in stores will invite customers to donate to the charities by taking a tag with a value of between £5 and £50 and scanning it with their shop.
As well as its work giving apprenticeship opportunities within the John Lewis Partnership for people leaving care, the retailer said it would make donations of Christmas decorations, food and gifts.
Children in care and their caregivers will be invited to Santa’s Grotto experiences in John Lewis stores and the retailer will also supply communal spaces of selected residential facilities run by Action for Children with electronics, furnishings and decorations.
John Lewis director of customer Claire Pointon said: “We are fortunate to have a truly unique platform in our Christmas ad, which sparks a national conversation. At John Lewis we care deeply about families and recognise that they come in many different forms. For our biggest moment of the year, we decided to focus on one kind of family that is often overlooked.
“We are also very aware that not all care experience outcomes are as positive as Ellie’s. The home Ellie enters is filled with kindness and the foster father’s actions demonstrate that, ultimately, it’s what you do that matters most.”
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