The season of Christmas advertisements has officially begun, with McDonald’s being the most recent to give us its merry wares.
In the run-up to John Lewis, Aldi, Morrisons, and Sainsbury’s all released seasonal advertisements earlier this month, which sparked odd complaints.
Meanwhile, amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Marks & Spencer issued an apology for their advertisement depicting burning Christmas party hats in the colours of the Palestinian flag, while one major supermarket has decided not to share a Christmas advertisement at all this year – for good reason.
And now, McDonald’s has given us a 90-second ad that pays homage to a famous Christmas classic.
Titled ‘Fancy a McDonald’s?’ the clip starts off with an office Christmas party karaoke, when a ‘snowman’ is saved from singing alongside a ‘reindeer’ with a text invite to ditch the party for McDonald’s.
As a bunch of folks dressed in odd costumes make their way to their restaurant, they attract the notice of a Santa Clause handing out gifts, who of course chases them down for some fries.
The video then switches to a series of cancelled trains, with a family in identical Christmas sweaters running to McDonald’s instead, and someone costumed as a Christmas pudding unable to get through the ticket gates.
Meanwhile, parents who have been patiently watching a school nativity seize the first opportunity to leave and scatter, with the children following after.
One hopeful puts out cards beginning ‘Fancy A…’ in possibly the most blatant allusion to Love Actually, mimicking Mark (Andrew Lincoln) and Juliet’s (Keira Knightly) famed doorstep season where he proclaims his love via cue cards.
As if that wasn’t enough to make you think of the star-studded Richard Curtis picture, the footage is set to Van Halen’s Jump, which Hugh Grant can be seen rocking to at 10 Downing Street.
Curtis has stated that he is ‘uncomfortable’ with the absence of diversity in the Colin Firth-starring picture.
‘There are things that you would change, but thank God society is changing,’ Curtis told Diane Sawyer last year, celebrating the 20 year anniversary of the film.
He continued: ‘My film is bound in some moments to feel out of date. The lack of diversity makes me feel uncomfortable and a bit stupid.’
‘There is such extraordinary love that goes on every minute in so many ways, all the way around the world, and makes me wish my film was better.
‘It makes me wish I’d made a documentary just to kind of observe it.’
