TheQuartering [11/2/2023]
Love Thismas (Not Thatmas)‘ and focuses on striking the balance between doing what we actually enjoy at Christmas, and what we feel obliged to do.
A host of British talent appear in the Marks and Spencer advertisement – which is set to a cover of Meatloaf’s ‘I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)’ by Ray BLK – including Hannah Waddingham, Zawe Ashton, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Tan France.
Encouraging people to shun the endless expectations and chores of the festive season, the ad shows the stars burning Christmas cards, throwing a board game into a fish tank and hitting an Elf on the Shelf with a bat.
The playful advert did not please everyone though, with people quickly – and bizarrely – slamming the retailer as “woke” for “trying to cancel Christmas” and for daring to feature gay and Black people.
“I can assure you that my family have used your store since the 1950s, It’s possible that our great grandparents also did. Our family will never use your store again. Go woke go broke,” one user on the social media platform X said.
“The majority of people in this country celebrate Christmas, This Ad is just another attack on traditional British values and our culture, Tell M&S where they can stick their woke B.S #GoWokeGoBroke,” another said.
“Encouraging adults to act like spoilt brats and trash other people’s Christmas if they simply don’t like it is a poor taste move from M&S #MarksAndSpencer this advert is a huge disappointment. Creating divide isn’t nice nor needed. Christmas is all we have left. #GoWokeGoBroke,” a third wrote.
The idea that M&S is attempting to cancel Christmas was shared widely across social media, with people reinforcing the right-wing conspiracy theory that white Christians are no longer ‘allowed’ to celebrate the festive season.
One person, unhappy with the ad, wrote: “The more they try and cancel Christmas the more we just f**king love it! Are my Christmas lights offending anyone? Oh they are? Great, I’m off to buy some more. Makes me so angry.”
“I second that @marksandspencer the cultural and religious insults just keep piling on and now they’ve joined the white Christian hatred. F**K THEM. I don’t feel safe in M&S [they] clearly despise me and the £billions Christianity and actual Brits have poured into them. Betrayal!,” another outraged user said.