John Lewis 2021 Christmas Advert: Brand Responds To Racist Backlash

John Lewis unveiled their 2021 Christmas advert, and as always, it’s a real tearjerker.

This year’s campaign, titled ‘The Unexpected Guest’, sees space voyager Skye crash into the world close to a younger boy called Nathan.

You can watch the advert below.

Nathan, who is preparing to celebrate Christmas with his nearest and dearest, decides to teach Skye about Christmas traditions.

While the advert had been praised by the vast majority, there’s been a vocal and ignorant minority of people who have accused John Lewis of being “too woke” – simply because the heartwarming clip features a Black family.

Others are also threatening to ‘boycott’ the department store for the ad due to its diverse casting.

John Lewis)

Interesting how these people don’t have a problem with someone playing an actual alien in the advert, isn’t it?

Sadly, it’s a reality that John Lewis have grimly had to prepare for, and have now stressed the welfare of the children in the advert was paramount.

“We always have a duty of care to anyone who is in our adverts and one of the things myself and the rest of the team are really passionate about is casting on talent,” customer director Claire Pointon explained.

John Lewis)

“That’s the first thing. We didn’t have any prescriptive points of view. We wanted to represent a modern Britain, quite frankly, and that’s our customer base.

“I think it’s shocking when you get that [racist abuse] and unfortunately you do get racist abuse on certain stuff.”

She continued to Metro: “We have a duty of care and we would always take that [racist abuse] very seriously as a brand.”

John Lewis’s efforts come after Sainsbury’s faced backlash on their 2020 Christmas advert as it featured a Black family.

Responding to the vile comments on social media, a spokesperson for Sainsbury’s said: “At Sainsbury's, we want to be the most inclusive retailer. That's why, throughout all our advertising we aim to represent a modern Britain, which has a diverse range of communities.

"We have three stories of three different families in our advertising."

Topics: John Lewis, Christmas, TV And Film

Kimberley Bond

Kim is a journalist at Tyla, and has previously worked at the Evening Standard, Radio Times as well as several national newspapers. A showbiz obsessive and a television fanatic, Kim is particularly interested in celebrity gossip, A-list events and the latest releases on either the big or small screen. Contact her at [email protected]

@0xKimberley