John Lewis has released the latest edition of its iconic Christmas advert, as people around the UK begin gearing up for the festive season. The retail giant has used this year’s ad to raise awareness of children in care with the story of a middle-aged man learning to skateboard before welcoming a young teenager into the family home.
The 90-second film – entitled The Beginner – shows a man as he struggles painfully to master skateboarding in the build-up to Christmas. Viewers are left questioning the motive behind his perseverance until the final scene, which shows a social worker arriving at his door with young teenager Ellie, who has arrived at her new foster home carrying her skateboard.
As with its past iterations, this year’s John Lewis ad features a cover version of a well-known and much-loved song. Previous versions have included Lily Allen’s cover of Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know and Elbow’s cover of The Beatles’ track Golden Slumbers.
The song used to soundtrack the latest ad is a cover of Blink 182’s 1999 hit All the Small Things, performed by US artist Mike Geier.
The original song featured on the band's albumn Enema of the State and was written by lead singers Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus and was selected by Rolling Stone as one of the 100 Greatest Pop Songs. It peaked at six in the US Billboard Hot 100 and number two in the UK singles chart. The music video also gained popularity due to its parodies of boybands including the Backstreet Boys and NSync.
Though Mike may not be a household name in the UK, the 58-year-old singer has posted many videos on YouTube throughout his more than 20 year career which have racked up millions of views.
His cover of Lorde’s Royals with American music collective Postmodern Jukebox has been viewed more than 32m times since it was uploaded nine years ago. He is best known for performing as his alter-ego Puddles, an Italian-style clown.
Geier has toured the world for almost twenty years as Puddles Pity Party, and has released two studio albums. He also reached the quarter finals of America’s Got Talent in 2017 where he performed his version of Royals.
Music written as Geier has previously been used on several Nickelodeon shows including iCarly and Victorious. John Lewis said it was proud to use its Christmas ad to “generate conversation and action around [the] often overlooked issue” of children and families in a “complex care system.”
Customer Director 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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