M&S Clothing and Home Christmas ad 2023 review: people are hating it, but it speaks to me

The brand has roped in a spangle of celebs to liberate us from traditions we secretly hate

There has rarely been a more liberating moment than the one when, after a discussion about Christmas dinner ended with one of my family saying: "shall we just have beef this time?"

And with that, decades of dutiful goose eating (we don't do turkey, it's not fatty enough) the gates were thrown open and since our celebratory meal has ranged from beef wellington to slow-cooked lamb - though we do return to our beloved goose about once every two years, because it's delicious. Even when you have to make it into a cassoulet at the last minute because the oven dies halfway through roasting. My dad is still a bit traumatised.

Anyway, the spirit of doing whatever the hell you want is what infuses this year's M&S Clothing and Home ad, seasoned liberally with a fistful of stardust. They've roped in a glorious troupe of actors and stars led, as is correct, by Ted Lasso's Hannah Waddingham, to celebrate doing Christmas the way you want to, to the refrain of Ray BLK's reworking of Meatloaf's I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That).

M&S Home Christmas advert
M&S Home Christmas advert
Marks and Spencer

The 'that' in this case is anything annoying that doesn't serve your Christmas joy. Anyone who has sat at the kitchen table at the start of December, surrounded by address labels, laboriously writing out cards to every bastard who thoughtlessly sent you one last year (what's wrong with a phone call? Have a chat!) and trying to make sure the right one doesn't go in the wrong envelope (was that one for Claire or for Clare?) will have sympathy with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, dutifully creating a gorgeous gingerbread house for her family, but ruthlessly taking a brulée-torch to her pile of identical cards.

Zawe Ashton, in a fetchingly slinky silver number, is a game charades player, but the Elf on the Shelf proves to be the line she will not cross and reveals her to be an excellent baseball batswoman; where he ends up, nobody knows. Queer Eye's fashion expert Tan France slightly over-dramatically rejects board games and Waddingham shreds the party hats into a glitter canon.

It's silly and fun, and loads of people have hated it, with commenters on YouTube taking the brand to task for "taking a pop at Christmas" and having "a pyromaniac and an alky promoting the festive season" (I think this refers to the fact that Waddingham is momentarily holding a glass of wine). The store's even accidentally become embroiled in the discourse around the Israel-Palestine war, after an outtake was shared on their social media from the ad, showing festively coloured paper crowns in red, green and silver, burning in the grate of a fire. Three colours which, extremely unfortunately, look remarkably like the Palestinian flag.

M&S Home Christmas advert
M&S Home Christmas advert
Marks and Spencer

""While the intent was to playfully show that some people just don't enjoy wearing paper Christmas hats over the festive season, we have removed the post following feedback and we apologise for any unintentional hurt caused," the brand stated.

Oof. Social media gaffes aside, as a keen introducer and discarder of 'family traditions' that we don't actually enjoy (we now always 'forget' the crackers, but we've stuck with the bottle of champagne during presents), I'm with M&S. Let us not concede to the tyranny, and let's just have a nice time. We all need it.

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