Christmas cheerjerkers

Budget rating: £££ Bauble rating: 4 Budget rating: ££££ Bauble rating: 4 Budget rating: ££££ Bauble rating: 3 Budget rating: ££ Bauble rating: 4 Budget rating: £££ Bauble rating: 4

THEY’RE big budget productions made to tug at our heartstrings and loosen our purse strings with laughter and tears.

But which of this year’s TV Christmas ads by the big stores is top of the tree – and are there any turkeys?

Advertising guru Brian Cooper, chief creative officer at Oliver, gives us his view.

Brands will be spending a record £6billion this year on festive campaigns, says the Advertising Association.

We look at their budgets and give a hit or miss bauble score for the results. A country pub, a storm outside, a roaring fire and everything shot in black and white as the punters get snowed in. There’s even a blackout, but the crowd rallies and whips up a Christmas feast.

Brian says: “Waitrose, like Sainsbury’s, has opted for black and white footage. But the ads couldn’t be further apart. Waitrose nods to a safer era of good old-fashioned British movies.” Kevin the carrot is back and this time has fallen in love with Katie. Shaken loose from a snowman’s nose by a speeding train, he is whisked on board and sees Katie lounging atop mince pies and reading “Nine 1/2 leeks”.

Brian says: “Aldi has gone very lo-fi. The best gag is when he encounters another carrot who’s pea’d itself after squashing a pea.”

FURRY GOOD Paddington is a delight in M&S ad In this 90-second ad, which took four months to make reportedly, Paddington accidentally foils a burglar on the roof and mistakenly believes the thief is Santa. Paddington helps him deliver the pressies and...