‘Tis the Season for warm, fuzzy emotion: visual storytelling and nostalgia in Christmas adverts

Abstract

For most viewers, television advertisements are so intrusive, repetitive, and untrustworthy that seldom are they willing to sit through a stream of unwanted TV and/or online advertisements.
One of the only times of the year, when this is not the case, is at Christmas. Whether because they make us smile, chuckle or become a little tearful, most festive advertising campaigns succeed in capturing and retaining audiences’ attention. UK leading retailers spend millions of pounds at this time of the year to ensure that adverts are remembered and talked about. I wish to argue that they are more effective and memorable if, among different strategies employed for comedic effect, they have a captivating storyline, are entertaining, meaningful and trigger a strong emotional response. Informed by narrative theory and conceptions of nostalgia, this paper examines the strategies and narrative techniques used in two television advertising campaigns by John Lewis, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s to both produce a feeling of nostalgia and cultivate empathy. It argues that their effectiveness stems from the stories in advertisements
that evoke memories and transport people imaginatively to their childhood.