When John Lewis opened a drapery shop in London in 1864, he couldn’t have imagined that it would still be in business a century and a half later and not just as a drapery shop, but a whole chain of upmarket department stores scattered across England, Wales, and Scotland. They aired their first Christmas advertisement in 2007 and it quickly became part of British popular culture, marking the unofficial beginning of the holiday season.
John Lewis’ 2016 Christmas ad was called “Buster the Boxer.” Its background music is a cover of Randy Crawford’s “One Day I’ll Fly Away” — an entirely appropriate choice given the central role played by a trampoline!
After a young girl is done jumping up and down on her bed, she’s tucked in for the night. But not just any night: it’s Christmas Eve. Her dad goes out to the yard and assembles a trampoline while her mom watches lovingly from upstairs. It’s frigid out and getting the thing put together is a lot of work, but his daughter is obviously going to love it, so it’s definitely going to be worth the effort. Once that’s taken care of, mom and dad can sit on the couch and relax. The family dog, a boxer named Buster is looking out the window transfixed by what’s going on now. Two foxes climb up on the trampoline and discover how much fun it is to jump on. They’re soon joined by a badger, a squirrel, and a hedgehog. Putting aside their usual differences, the animals have a blast on the trampoline. The poor dog badly wants to join them, but he’s out of luck. On Christmas morning, the little girl comes downstairs and runs outside to try her new trampoline. Buster beats her to it, and bounces on the trampoline like a mad thing, making up for all the fun he missed overnight. The girl and her parents are left slack-jawed.
How did you like this lighthearted but touching Christmas ad? Let us know in the Facebook comments. Be sure to like and share, too!
https://youtu.be/sr6lr_VRsEo
