Asda, Etsy and Purdy & Figg’s ads set the Christmas tone
Christmas ads are usually either sentimental, shamelessly fun, or festive and traditional. All these tropes are shown in Etsy, Asda and Purdy & Figg’s ads this year
The Christmas ads are coming in thick and fast now, and hopefully your whimsy is yet to turn into cynicism.
This first spate of ads sets the tone for what’s to come, covering the timeless Yule Tide themes of sentiment, humour and tradition.
Purdy & Figg: making a chore a ritual
10 Days’ effort for Purdy & Figg’s is first up. The ad embraces the very traditional Christmas aesthetic, before subverting it slightly. Given that my mum uses this brand, and I can attest that it really does smell pretty on point, the “Cleaning Is Jazz” ad never felt tenuous to me.
Its cinematic approach, part high-end perfume ad/part camp Christmas stocking filler, depicts cleaning as a joyful, almost meditative ritual.
Agency founder Jolyon White said, “Cleaning ads always suck. [Purdy & Figg] deserve a film that creates this sense of desire and luxury. This isn’t cleaning, this is jazz.”
Right on, Jolyon.
Frankly, the scent is so good I may just believe him.
Etsy: The gift of being ‘seen’
Orchard Creative USA dreamt up Etsy’s 2025 Christmas campaign, ‘Gifts That Say I Get You’, which follows its excellent ‘Where’s Waldo?’ campaign last year.
Pathos is also mined this time, and the theme of being ‘seen’ is present once more. One ad of the series features a kid hell bent on repetitively ‘drumming’ on items in class. He is later gifted a drum set by his teacher to cater for his habit, treating his quirk as a quality.
Like the John Lewis ad this year, sentimentality and ‘thoughtful giving’ underscore the ad series, which is shot with cinematic style editing.
Asda: The Grinch goes green
While I sort of miss the gnomes from last year, Asda has once again embraced holiday fun, this time casting The Grinch, whose usual holiday cynicism is eased by the supermarket’s low prices.
‘A Very Merry Grinchmas’ sees the character drawn to Asda’s signature green glow before being won over by some festive bargains. Lucky Generals is the agency behind the campaign, and the director is Dexter Fletcher.
The ad is well-paced, watchable and shoots for light entertainment rather than all-out spectacle.
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