The John Lewis Christmas adverts have become a familiar part of the festive season, with each campaign offering a new story designed to capture the spirit of giving. The series, which began in 2007, has ranged from animated animals and unlikely friendships to family memories, foster care and an alien visitor.
The retailer’s recent campaigns have continued to revisit themes of love, nostalgia and relationships, while occasionally departing from the tear-jerking formula that made the adverts a seasonal talking point.
John Lewis Christmas adverts from 2025 to 2020
The 2025 advert, Where Love Lives, focused on the relationship between a father and his teenage son. It opened with the boy giving his father a vinyl record featuring Alison Limerick’s 1990 club anthem of the same name.
As the record played, the father was transported from the living room to a crowded nightclub, recalling the years before he became a parent. The commercial moved between his dancing and memories of his son as a toddler and baby before returning to the present, where father and son shared an emotional embrace.
It was the first John Lewis Christmas campaign to centre on a father and teenage son, and drew on parental nostalgia rather than the retailer’s more familiar fantasy-style stories.
In 2024, The Gifting Hour followed Sally as she searched for a Christmas present for her sister. She rushed into the John Lewis Oxford Street shop shortly before closing time and fell through a rack of dresses into a fantastical world inspired by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Her journey took her through memories from her childhood, including a brief festive meeting with her late mother, as she continued looking for the right gift.
The 2023 campaign, Snapper: The Perfect Tree, took a lighter approach. A boy called Alfie asked his grandmother for a seed so he could grow his own Christmas tree, but the plant that emerged was an animated Venus flytrap.
Nicknamed Snapper, the unruly plant was eventually moved outside after causing chaos. On Christmas morning, Alfie gave it a present, prompting Snapper to swallow the gifts and spit out items including headphones, Lego sets and slippers.
Andrea Bocelli provided the soundtrack, making it only the second time the retailer had used an original song rather than a cover of a classic hit.
In 2022, The Beginner told the story of a foster father learning to skateboard ahead of Christmas. Despite bruises and repeated falls, he continued practising, including by watching tutorials at work.
The reason for his efforts was revealed when his foster child, Ellie, arrived to stay with him and his wife. She carried a skateboard covered in stickers, and the advert was accompanied by a slower version of Blink-182’s All The Small Things.
The 2021 commercial, Unexpected Guest, introduced viewers to Skye, a space traveller who crash-landed in woodland near the home of 14-year-old Nathan. He showed her how to eat mince pies, decorate a Christmas tree and wear festive jumpers before she eventually returned to her home planet.
Lola Young performed a cover of Together In Electric Dreams for the advert, which began with Nathan following a flashing light into the woods after spotting it on his way home from school.
John Lewis used nine linked stories in its 2020 campaign, Give a Little Love. The commercial showed small acts of kindness helping people who were lonely or struggling, with scenes featuring flying snowmen, oversized Christmas crackers and a hedgehog dreaming of becoming a pigeon.
Each section used a different visual style, including hand-drawn animation, claymation and live-action cinematography.
From Edgar the dragon to Elton John
The 2019 advert, Edgar the Dragon, returned to a more traditional festive tale. Edgar was an accident-prone dragon whose fire-breathing caused havoc in a mythical village, setting a Christmas tree alight, destroying a snowman and melting the local ice rink.
His red-haired best friend Ava tried to help him control the problem. The campaign was the first festive collaboration between John Lewis and its sister brand Waitrose.
In 2018, the retailer moved away from its usual cast of children and animals to feature Sir Elton John. The Boy and the Piano charted his journey from childhood to international fame, set to his song Your Song.
The story ended with four-year-old Elton receiving his first piano on Christmas Day in 1951 before cutting to the 71-year-old musician playing the same instrument. The £7 million campaign carried the message that some gifts are more than just gifts, although some viewers criticised its focus on the singer and missed the earlier animal characters.
The 2017 commercial, Moz the Monster, centred on a seven-year-old boy called Joe and the furry creature who lived beneath his bed. Moz appeared each night to play games with Joe, including piggyback and Scalextric, without the rest of the family knowing.
Viewers saw the pair develop a close friendship before Joe received a special gift connected to his monster companion. The soundtrack was Elbow’s cover of The Beatles’ Golden Slumbers.
In 2016, the star was Buster the Boxer. The advert followed Bridget, a girl who loved jumping, as her parents secretly built her a trampoline in the garden.
While Bridget waited for Christmas morning, a series of animals used the trampoline, watched by Buster from inside the house. When Bridget finally ran outside, she discovered that the dog had beaten her to it.
Penguins, snowmen and woodland friends
The 2015 campaign, Man on the Moon, focused on an elderly man living alone on the moon. A young girl called Lily watched him from Earth and tried unsuccessfully to send a message.
On Christmas morning, a telescope was delivered to him by balloons. He used it to see Lily and realised that somebody cared about him. The advert featured Aurora singing a version of Oasis’s Half The World Away.
One of the best-known campaigns arrived in 2014 with Monty the Penguin. Seven-year-old Sam gradually understood that his penguin companion wanted another penguin in his life, so he gave Monty a new friend named Mabel on Christmas morning.
Tom Odell performed John Lennon’s Real Love for the two-minute commercial.
The 2013 advert, The Bear and the Hare, told the story of two friends facing their first Christmas apart. The bear was preparing to hibernate and eventually disappeared into his cave while the woodland creatures continued their festive preparations.
The hare struggled without his friend but came up with a solution. He returned with an alarm clock, waking the bear in time to join the Christmas celebrations.
In 2012, The Journey followed a snowman who disappeared from a family’s garden. The advert then traced his route across rivers, mountains, roads and a city before revealing that he had left to find presents for his snowwoman.
The reason for the journey was kept until the final scene, with Gabrielle Aplin singing a cover of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s The Power Of Love.
The earlier John Lewis Christmas campaigns
The 2011 advert, The Long Wait, appeared to show a young boy counting down to Christmas because he was eager to receive presents. Its final moments revealed that he had actually been impatient to give gifts to his parents.
The campaign used a cover of The Smiths’ Please Please Let Me Get What I Want.
In 2010, A Tribute to Givers concentrated on people choosing and wrapping presents before Christmas. The scenes included parents carrying a rocking horse upstairs, a mechanic struggling to wrap a spotted teapot and a boy venturing into the snow in his dressing gown to hang a stocking beside his dog’s kennel.
Ellie Goulding performed a cover of Elton John’s Your Song.
The 2009 campaign, Sweet Child O’ Mine, was the first John Lewis Christmas advert created by the advertising agency Adam & Eve. It was also the first to feature a cover by a current artist, with Taken By Trees performing the Guns N’ Roses song.
Children were shown opening presents intended for adults, including a laptop, coffee machine and handbag, before the message: “Remember how Christmas used to feel? Give someone that feeling.”
In 2008, From Me To You linked different characters with presents chosen for them. Its closing message was: “If you know the person, you’ll find the present.” The accompanying cover of The Beatles song was recorded for the campaign and included vocals from Matt Spinner, a member of the John Lewis IT department and its music society.
The first advert in the series, Shadows, was released in 2007. It showed people arranging possible gifts, including a desktop lamp, computer and leather satchel, into a pile in an empty room.
The objects created a shadow resembling a woman walking a dog through the snow, accompanied by the line: “Whoever you’re looking for this Christmas.”
