Stunt Watch: SKIMS' Christmas farce, Santa's confession, Lovehoney's tie-in and Rimmel's lipstick slide

Christmas is coming, and I am shalalalaaaaing my way through it.

I'm getting all the feels while putting up the decorations. Rearranging my Christmas plans just so I can be SAT for the Harry Potter series. And starting every Teams call with “Have you seen [insert high street supermarket brand of your choice]’s latest Christmas ad?” But enough about my festive viewing schedule.

This week, Kim Kardashian has everyone questioning if she gift-wrapped the contents of her hoover, Lovehoney has a different use for all those ties, Rimmel has shoppers sliding into Boots, and Santa appears to have wrestled the Christmas bookings back from the Grinch.

Let's get into it.

SKIMS: Twelve days of… this?

I refuse to believe the SKIMS advent calendar wasn’t a stunt. STRAIGHT REFUSE.

Do I have access to the planning documents? No. Am I giving them potentially far too much credit? Possibly. But this has generated some of the most mainstream brand conversation I’ve seen all year, and I struggle to believe Kim Kardashian is sitting at home devastated that people are talking about her.

This is a woman who has spent years turning notoriety into commercial opportunity. The idea that she suddenly believes bad publicity can only be bad publicity? I’m struggling.

Because honestly, this calendar looks like someone put their hand down one of Kim’s many sofas, pulled out whatever tat they could find, and gave each item its own little door.

Hair ties. Bobby pins. Keychains. A small SKIMS squishy. All yours for $148. Merry Christmas, Kimberly.

Then came the response. Customers could return it for a full refund, or keep it and receive $150 in SKIMS credit. Which means the disappointed customer now has a reason to browse the clothes they probably wanted in the first place.

Was it an advent calendar? Or a very elaborate way of getting people to buy some SKIMS? Hmmmm.

To be clear, offering customers their money back doesn’t prove anyone planned the backlash. But it does give the story another chapter, another round of coverage, and another reason for everyone to say SKIMS.

And once other brands, including IKEA, start using your calendar as fodder for their own content, you’ve become the thing everyone else is reacting to.

Would I want to receive it? Oh heeeell no. BUT am I putting it in Stunt Watch? Unfortunately, Kim – yes.

Lovehoney: a different kind of tie-in

And almost on cue, here’s Lovehoney making my point for me.

While everyone else was counting the hair ties in Kim’s calendar, Lovehoney spotted an opportunity to offer one more. Just… for a different purpose.

Its response? “Tie One Get One Free.” Buy one of its advent calendars and get an extra set of bondage ties, with the offer running until Sunday. Because if we’re getting tied up this Christmas, we might as well enjoy it.

This is a neat little reactive. The connection is immediate, the joke is actually a joke, and there’s an offer attached that feels more valuable than hair ties. Someone else’s disappointing unboxing becomes a reason to buy your calendar instead.

Does it need to be any more complicated than that? No.

The line from Lovehoney’s PR lead sums it up: “Some advent calendars help you put your hair up. Ours help you let it down.”

Very good. No notes. Well, one: kudos to whoever got “Tie One Get One Free” through the approval chain with a straight face.

Rimmel: the idea health and safety usually kills

Slightly less Christmas – or is it? I think we can give it a tenuous link.

Somewhere, a creative is watching Rimmel’s Westfield slide and quietly reopening a deck from five years ago.

Because we have all had this idea. Or some version of it. “What if we turned the escalator into a slide?”

A brief moment of excitement. Someone starts looking for references. Then legal books in a meeting, and the slide quietly leaves the presentation.

Well, Rimmel actually did it. A giant red slide at Westfield London, promoting its Oh My Gloss! Slip Stick, and letting shoppers take a much more entertaining route down the escalator.

Just pure unadulterated stunt.

There’s a product connection in the slip, there’s a big visual, and there’s something people immediately want to have a go on.

You don’t need someone explaining the consumer journey. You see the slide. You want to slide.

Yeah. Lit.

What makes this worth including, though, is that I’ve seen it on both my TikTok and Instagram. In amongst the things I actually watch, rather than exclusively through people who work in comms congratulating other people who work in comms. That matters. It made it onto my feeds because people were enjoying themselves. The experience was the content.

Sometimes the idea everyone has had is still a very good idea. Credit to the people who built this one. And to whoever got the risk assessment signed off.

Santa: Booked, busy and back in the spotlight

Last year, it felt like the Grinch had every brand partnership going. This year, Santa appears to have had a word with his agent.

He’s back. He’s booked. And apparently, he’s got mandatory training.

Ministry of Fun’s Santa School has brought its professional Father Christmases to the former Arding & Hobbs department store in Clapham Junction for their final preparations. A building with more than a century of grotto history, now hosting Santas in its boardrooms. There’s something quite lovely about that.

The curriculum includes perfecting the “Ho, Ho, Ho”, brushing up on the year’s toys, and learning to wish children a Merry Christmas in British Sign Language. Plus preparing for the questions only a five-year-old could think to ask.

Honestly, probably need to drop in myself to prep for the questions my nephew is BOUND to ask me this Christmas – that I never have the answers for. But I do have sweets, and I guess that counts... right?

Is a room full of Santas a groundbreaking Christmas stunt? No. But it’s a reliable festive picture, and the detail about making those few minutes with each child feel special gives it some warmth beyond the beards.

Over at Greene King, Santa is doing something arguably more surprising: admitting he’s had too much credit

The Big Christmas Shift puts the spotlight on the people working through Christmas so everyone else can enjoy it, with 30,000 free meals offered through an alternative festive celebration.

Santa’s confession is a funny way into recognising the people who actually make the day happen.

Neither execution has me falling off my chair, but together they’ve got me noticing how often the big man is getting a starring role this year. And Greene King gives him a useful reason to be there.

It reminds me of Uber’s Night Shift initiative, which launched when clocks went back - supporting the people who keep London running through the night. There’s something about brands giving the people behind everyone else’s good time a chance to have their own. It's restoring, in me, some faith in the world.

A meal. Time with someone you love. A celebration your rota would otherwise get in the way of. Putting the big P back into purpose, with something practical behind the festive sentiment.

Santa can have his comeback. Just as long as he shares the catering.

Written by Kim Allain, freelance creative director. First published on PRmoment.com.