A short post about why I LIKE the John Lewis Christmas ad ‘Man on the Moon’

I shall start this post by saying that I tend to take most things at ‘face value’ I don’t see a conspiracy theory in every single thing that happens, in every film plot or life decision. So when I saw the John Lewis Christmas Ad ‘Man on the Moon’ I liked it, I thought it was a sweet advert that showed the kindness of children, of how big their hearts can be and yes, of course, I saw a lonely old man who was made to smile by the gift from another. Do I think the budget for the advert was a little extravagant, yes maybe a little. Do I think that John Lewis should NOT have done the advertisement at all and given the reported £7 million to charity or to the elderly instead? No, I don’t.

If there is one thing that really gets my goat it’s when the general public get on their high horse about where companies should be directing their money. For that matter, it really gets my goat when people complain about where anyone should be spending or rather ‘donating’ their money. John Lewis has a Community Scheme where they give large amounts of money to charity regularly. Those little green tokens that you get given to place in the boxes aren’t a game, it’s not Monopoly or Tiddlywinks, it’s an opportunity for you to decide which charitities locally deserve a percentage of that quarter’s charity payout. They do this for every single one of their stores.

I am so fed up of the posts flying around Facebook and the rest of Social Media about how John Lewis shouldn’t have done the ad at all. But if they don’t advertise and keep people coming through their doors then they won’t make money, if they don’t make money then they won’t be able to build up a community fund, if they don’t have a community fund then worthwhile charities don’t get a donation. Let’s not forget too that this isn’t just John Lewis either, they have partnered with Age UK who are obviously very happy to be associated.

I wonder how many of these people moaning on Facebook about what John Lewis should or shouldn’t be doing have an elderly person near them who needs help. A friendly face to pop in and see if they need anything from the Supermarket, someone to sweep the leaves off their path or support in some other way? Very few is my guess.

DISCLAIMER: I have NOT been asked to write this post, I am not affiliated with John Lewis in any way. I just get sick of all the haters who probably never give a penny to charity anyway.