To kick off the festive season, retailers ranging from Lidl to Asda have released their 2023 Christmas advertisements.
The new advertisements feature a slew of celebrities, including Michael Bublé, Graham Norton, and Hannah Waddingham.
Sainsbury’s is the newest store to enter the fray, with the services of Never Gonna Give You Up singer Rick Astley.
But, before we get to Rick, a little girl utterly takes consumers in a large supermarket by surprise when she grabs the intercom and asks a major question.
‘Hey Sainsbury’s, I have a question,’ she begins, after wandering away from her mother to talk through the speakers in the store. ‘It’s about Santa.’
All of the adults in the shop gasp, clearly thinking that she’s going to ask if Santa’s real… while the actual Santa, who’s chilling in the North Pole, says: ‘Uh oh.’
Her line of thinking, however, takes another turn when she asks, ‘What does he have for his Christmas dinner?’
A sigh of relief can be heard across the shop as genuine employees from Sainsbury’s stores around the country who were cast to participate in the advertisement begin to speculate.
‘I think he’d kick off with a Charcuter-tree,’ referencing a dish that’s a typical charcuterie spread in the shape of – you’ve guessed it – a Christmas tree.
Santa is clearly pleased by that idea, rubbing his hands together as it appears on his dining table, before another Sainsbury’s worker says: ‘Then it’s got to be succulent slow-cooked British turkey crown.’
Someone else claims: ‘And he’d love a Taste The Difference No Beef Wellington,’which is made with mushroom and pea protein instead of meat, as Father Christmas remarks: ‘I’ve got no beef with that.’
The scene shifts back to a Sainsbury’s supermarket, where Rick is shopping in the cheese aisle while dressed in a brilliant blue suit.
‘How about some cheese?’ he asks the camera.
‘Come on Rick,’ a shop worker responds. ‘Cheese before pudding. You know the rules.’
Her colleague pipes up to sing: ‘And so do I…’, with Rick rolling his eyes and smiling over the obvious reference to one of his most famous Never Gonna Give You Up.
The guessing game continues as a bakery employee inquires, ‘Mince pies?’
However, it appears that Santa is sick of eating the same old mince pies year after year… However, the concept of a Belgian chocolate mousse shaped resembling a snowy hamlet piques his imagination.
Speaking about his involvement in the ad, Rick explained that for him, food always ‘plays such an important part during the holidays’.
‘We’re always looking to bring something exciting to the Christmas dinner table whether that’s a new starter or a surprise showstopping dessert,’ he said.
‘It was a real honour and so much fun to join the Sainsbury’s store team on the shoot – even if they did pull me up on my cheeseboard before dessert suggestion!’
