Best Christmas Adverts: 10 Classic Seasonal Commercials

9: Twelve Days Of Christmas (Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, 1992-2004, 2016- present)

One of the festive constants among the best Christmas adverts, this is a classic spot set to an adapted version of The Twelve Days Of Christmas. We see spoon after spoon plunge into a family-size jar of thick, cold, creamy goodness, and learn exactly what the product is good with – whether that’s 12 pigs-in-blankets or five Yorkshire puddings (as the years have gone on, more veggie options have dotted the song, too). Hellmann’s have traditionally seen their sales rocket at Christmas, partly because of this memorable advert and partly because there are just so many darned turkey sandwiches to guzzle.

8: Make This Christmas Incredibublé (ASDA, 2023)

“Jingle my bells, that’s great!” Starring as the supermarket chain’s Chief Quality Officer at Christmas, Michael Bublé darts through all the different festive treats ASDA is offering, giving his grin of approval, before joining his colleagues in a quick rendition of Winter Wonderland. Bublé, of course, is a modern Christmas superstar, with his 2011 album, Christmas, being an annual favourite; he also regularly helms his own Christmas TV specials.

Married to Argentinian actor Luisiana Lopilato since 2011, Bublé has spoken of how the pair fuse traditions at home to reflect their multicultural family. One is making sure Christmas Eve is given equal weight to Christmas Day, reflecting how the holiday is celebrated both in Argentina and North America. Another is in the songs the family all sing together. “We sing the song Feliz Navidad for 7,000 times… over and over,” Bublé said in 2021. “I’m not kidding you.”

7: Holidays Are Coming (Coca-Cola, 1995-present)

Did Coca-Cola invent Santa Claus? No, not quite. Around the world, traditions had existed for centuries of a gift-giver who had supernatural insight and endless energies, dedicated to making sure the good children of the world received a toy at Christmas. But Coca-Cola did powerfully influence his modern depiction – an avuncular man, dressed in the red-and-white of Coca-Cola’s branding (with rosy cheeks and a snowy beard to match). This Santa was created for the company by illustrator Haddon Sundbloom, in 1931, and his jolly countenance has dominated Western popular culture at Christmas ever since.

Sundbloom’s Santa is the key character of Holidays Are Coming, the long-running advert series that features a convoy of illuminated Coke delivery vans. As they pass, they light up trees, houses and children’s faces, with Santa supping from a refreshing bottle at the end. The song in the advert is titled Wonderful Dream (Holidays Are Coming) and has been recorded several times, including by British singer Joe McElderry in 2013.

6: 1914 (Sainsburys, 2014)

One hundred years on from the start of the First World War, Sainsbury’s crafted a breathtakingly cinematic advert commemorating the famed “Christmas Truce” of 1914. This was a spontaneous event, for which British and German troops in the trenches met in the “no-man’s land” between them to share gifts, shake hands and play football. Events portrayed in the advert drew from real letters written by soldiers describing the temporary ceasefire. The advert itself was made in partnership with the Royal British Legion, ensuring its message was both historically accurate and respectful of the horrific loss of life in that conflict.

Drawing upon such an emotive subject for a Christmas advert was not without its controversy. More than 200 people complained to the Advertising Standards Agency, most questioning the taste of using a war infamous for its futile slaughter to promote a supermarket at Christmas. Sainsbury’s, however, stuck by the idea, even creating a tie-in chocolate bar, all profits from the sales of which went to the Royal British Legion.

5: Phenomenal Christmas (Irn-Bru, 2006)

The animated adaptation of Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman (as introduced by David Bowie) is on British TV every single year, and its ubiquity has spawned a host of pastiches and homages. This advert, from Irn-Bru, sees a stylistically spot-on animation of a young boy and his magic snowman engaging in a battle over a can of Scotland’s finest soft drink. The lyrics of the original Snowman classic, Walking In The Air, are also altered, telling of how this particular snowman “nicked my Irn-Bru, and let go of my hand”, sending the boy tumbling into the snow beneath.

There was even a sequel to Phenomenal Christmas, in 2018. In this – and just as Coca-Cola had done – Irn-Bru created their own Santa, this one dressed in the burnt orange of the Irn-Bru can, donning a kilt and Tam O’Shanter cap.

4: Merry Christmas From The Oxo Family (Oxo, 1984)

The Oxo family were a soap opera in miniature throughout the 80s, with father Michael Redfern and mother Lynda Bellingham navigating the trials of family life – all while serving up lashings of gravy. In this, the family’s first Christmas advert, daughter Alison tells the story of her Christmas. It’s rather different to how her mother experiences it.

Affection for the Oxo family was such that, at the death of Lynda Bellingham, in 2014, the public successfully petitioned Oxo to screen this particular commercial in tribute to her. It appeared during the 2014 Christmas Day edition of Coronation Street, Bellingham’s busy mum once more serving up familial warmth for all.

3: Mistletoe (Yellow Pages, 1992)

Before the Yellow Pages was an app, it was a physical doorstop of a phone directory – and it’s this very heft that’s used to poignant effect in one of the best Christmas adverts of all time. To the tune of We Wish You A Merry Christmas, a little boy is foiled in his attempt to gain a kiss under the mistletoe; his intended is a bit too tall for him to reach. His brainwave is to stand on the Yellow Pages, elevating him just enough to claim his Christmas peck.

Throughout the 80s and 90s, Yellow Pages created a series of memorable ads, from JR Hartley, trying to locate a copy of his Fly Fishing book, to a young man desperate to erase all trace of his illicit party before his parents return from holiday. The charm and warmth of these small stories stay in many a nostalgic heart – even after the Yellow Pages itself ceased existing as a printed artefact in 2019.

2: Ambassador’s Reception (Ferrero Rocher, 90s)

While not officially a festive advert, Ambassador’s Reception was shown with such regularity during the Decembers of the 90s that it’s essential to include it in any rundown of the best Christmas adverts ever made. An enormous pyramid of Ferrero Rocher chocolates makes for the centrepiece to a society soirée for guests from across the world, gaining praise for the hosting Ambassador. “Monsieur,” a lady says in a wandering pan-European accent, “with this Ferrero Rocher, you are really spoiling us.”

Set to tinkly piano and populated by cheesy characters, this advert was seen as irredeemably naff – that is until it was taken off air in 1999, and the public soon realised how much they missed their pseudo-sophisticated friends. Ferrero Rocher tried to create new adverts (“new music, no visual or audible links with the previous advertising [and] a much more modern approach”, said a stern executive in 1999, clearly sick of the ribbing the previous advert had endured), but no one cared much for them, so the company relented: the Ambassador was permitted to host his reception once again in 2003.

1: The Bear And The Hare (John Lewis, 2013)

A poignant animation of forest animals gathering to celebrate the season, The Bear And The Hare tells of one animal who always misses out: the bear, because it hibernates. The hare becomes determined that its burly friend will experience Christmas this year via a very clever, very thoughtful gift. The story is a fresh one, and it’s heart-warming without being too sentimental. The advert was extremely popular with both children and adults.

Technically, The Bear And The Hare was innovative, too. It featured a mix of hand-drawn animation and 3D sets, creating an uncanny mood of reality and fantasy. The advert was designed by an established studio, Premise, who boasted former Disney animators on its staff. “The thing to me that is so special about 2D or hand-drawn animation is just that… it’s done by hand,” one of the commercial’s animators, Aaron Blaise, said. “There is a hand-crafted feel you get, that you just can’t get with a computer because it’s… well… hand-crafted. I like to see the imperfections in the line, a little boil in the colour. Embrace the medium!”

Completing the mood of The Bear And The Hare is Lily Allen, who sings a cover of the Keane track Somewhere Only We Know. Allen herself has ambivalent feelings about the song, believing it doesn’t sit artistically with her other work, but there’s no denying her brilliance in creating an incredibly evocative mood for the advert. It was popular, too: Somewhere Only We Know became Allen’s third UK No.1. The artisan style of the animation and the emotion in Allen’s voice combine in the John Lewis creation that tops our list of the best Christmas adverts of all time.

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