Over the years, Sainsbury’s has definitely become one of the big beasts of the cluttered Christmas advertising market. Who could forget the one starring animated cat Mog – or the absolute tearjerker that recreated World War One’s Boxing Day Truce (I’m welling up just thinking about it)?
Well, this year, Alison Hammond is set to cement her place – and lighten the tone – as the supermarket’s new festive icon for new ad Once Upon A Pud.
In this year’s offering, she plays a rather picky countess of a cod-medieval land, who is sorting out what to eat for Christmas this year. To the horror of all the courtiers, a young lad trots up with a Christmas pudding in hand, to be instantly slapped down.
Countess Hammond is not a fan of the Christmas pud and wants a better option – an incident which sparks the episode’s main storyline.
Set to a flute version of Teenage Dirtbag (apparently part of a growing TikTok phenomenon known as ‘Bardcore’ or ‘tavernwave’), said teen goes on a cooking spree, pinching items from all over the land to make… another Christmas pudding.
But this time, it’s a Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference pudding, which (you guessed it) is rapidly given the Hammond seal of approval.
It’s all very light-hearted stuff, and of course Hammond is a joy to watch – so much so that you actually wonder why nobody has tapped her potential for a festive ad before.
Her twinkly smile and diva-esque energy is what brings the whole thing together (even if it is a tad bizarre to see her decked out like a pantomime dame). When she says, “That’s a bit of me! Well done, babs,” even I felt my shoulders unclench the tiniest amount.
Hats off too to the costume department. Though the festive-medieval theme is rather hackneyed at this point, all of the many, many people we see in the countess’s throne room are fully decked out in miles of velvet and linen. No corners were cut here – not even by the executioner wielding an axe at one stage.
Will this ad be a classic? Probably not: instead of heading down the weepy route, which is what the British public seems to enjoy watching in the festive period, it is unlikely to capture the collective imagination.
It’s nothing too special, but by gum, watching Hammond work her magic is a treat. I might have a slice of that Christmas pudding after all.
