The Brits Did It Again: 2025's Christmas Ads Are Emotional Bunkers Disguised as Retail

Love actually forever !

Right. So. The British food retailers have done their annual thing where they collectively decide that November is the time to weaponize your feelings and call it "festive marketing." And look, we're not complaining. We're never complaining. Because this is the one time of year when watching advertisements becomes a legitimate cultural event, and frankly, that says everything you need to know about Britain.

But 2025 is different. This year isn't about selling you the perfect Christmas; it's about selling you a reassuring Christmas bubble. A bubble made of rom-coms you've memorized, children's books you can recite drunk, and pop culture references so comforting they might as well be weighted blankets. Because when the world feels like it's actively on fire, apparently the only rational response is to clutch Love Actually, a Roald Dahl book, and a sentient carrot like emotional support animals.

So grab whatever alcohol-adjacent beverage helps you cope, because we're diving into Britain's 2025 Christmas ad lineup. Spoiler: someone will make you cry. Someone will make you cringe so hard your face hurts. And at least one vegetable is getting married in a musical number that references a Richard Curtis film.

Yes. That's where we are now.

1. Waitrose & Partners - Keira Knightley Falls for a Pie (And We Fall for This Every Time)

Waitrose made a four-minute rom-com. Full stop. That's the pitch. That's what happened.

Keira Knightley plays herself. Joe Wilkinson plays Phil, a widower whose late wife left one instruction: if you move on, make it Keira Knightley. (In Love Actually, the widower aimed for Claudia Schiffer. Waitrose knows their references.) Phil meets Keira at the cheese counter—because destiny doesn't happen at Aldi, darling ; they date, he panics when someone named Mark leaves her gifts, and he shows up at her door with a turkey pie to declare his love.

Mark is her brother. Everyone cries. Britain is healed.

Is it derivative? Yes. Is it shamelessly manipulative? Absolutely. Does it work because Love Actually has been hardwired into British DNA since 2003? You're damn right it does.

Waitrose wins because they understood the assignment: give people the narrative comfort food they already know by heart. When the world is chaos, sell them the bubble. They're not selling turkey; they're selling the feeling that rom-coms are real and love wins if you just bake your feelings into pastry.

Honestly? Flawless.

2. Aldi - Kevin the Carrot Does Love Actually (Because Of Course He Does)

Kevin the Carrot is back, and this time he's full Love Actually cosplay.

He proposes with cue cards. (Yes, that scene.) He gets lost on his stag do wearing a mankini. (Don't ask.) Then he saves his wedding with a musical performance of "Love Is All Around." (Yes, that scene too.)

It's a sentient vegetable performing a Wet Wet Wet cover at a wedding, and you are emotionally invested. Which is insane. But also correct.

Here's the thing: Aldi has accidentally built a transmedia universe around a root vegetable, and we're all here for it. Kevin isn't just a mascot; he's proof that love wins, even when you're produce. In a world where nothing makes sense, Kevin getting married to a Love Actually soundtrack makes perfect sense.

If Netflix doesn't greenlight Kevin the Carrot: The Complete Saga, they're cowards.

3. Tesco - Eleven Vignettes of Festive Misery (And It's Perfect)

Tesco said, "You know what? Christmas is annoying. Let's just admit it."

Eleven micro-ads. Eleven perfectly captured moments of holiday disaster. The office Secret Santa where you unwrap something that says "World's Okayest Employee." The sibling war over the last roast potato. And, chef's kiss, the uncle who drops a spectacularly inappropriate opinion at dinner and then just sits there chewing while everyone processes the wreckage.

I have never felt more seen.

Tesco isn't selling you perfect. They're selling you your Christmas, the one where someone says the wrong thing, the turkey is dry, and you're pretty sure Aunt Karen is dangerously close to bringing up politics. And those disasters? Those are the stories you tell every year. "Remember when Uncle Dave said"

It's TikTok-length genius. Ten to thirty seconds of pure relatability. Because here's the secret: we don't love Christmas because it's perfect. We love it because it's a beautiful disaster we survive together. Tesco gets it. And honestly? That's more powerful than making you cry.

Is it cynical? Maybe. Will you laugh until you choke on mince pie? Absolutely.

4. Lidl - The Quiet Ones (In a Good Way)

Lidl went soft. Not weak, just quiet.

A little girl narrates, observing tiny kindnesses: a coworker dressed as a star cheering someone up, a Lidl employee helping with a Christmas tree, her grandma pretending bad cooking is delicious. At dinner, she concludes: "I think everyone has a lot to learn from Christmas."

It's gentle. Reflective. The opposite of Kevin's musical wedding extravaganza.

And in 2025, when everything is so loud, Lidl's whisper feels radical. They're not asking you to save the world. Just notice. See the small acts of decency happening right in front of you. Because when everything big is broken, at least you can help someone carry a tree.

It's micro-solidarity as survival. And honestly? It might be all we've got left.

5. Sainsbury's - The BFG Teams Up with an Employee (Who Is the Actual Hero)

Sainsbury's stayed in the Roald Dahl universe. Last year, the BFG made a feast. This year, a new villain, The Greedy Giant, shows up and destroys it. Chaos.

Enter Annie. Not a manager. A Sainsbury's employee. She teams up with the BFG, replaces everything, saves Christmas, and invites the giant to lunch.

Here's the brilliance: the hero isn't the magical creature. It's the ordinary person who knows where the gammon is stored and isn't afraid to deploy that knowledge for good.

Sainsbury's isn't selling fantasy. They're selling competence. The promise that when everything collapses, someone who actually works here will fix it. It's a love letter to retail workers.

And after the last few years? They've earned it.

6. Asda - The Grinch Discovers Discount Prices (Economic Honesty as Strategy)

Asda cast The Grinch. Let him complain about Christmas being expensive. Then showed him an Asda store glowing like salvation.

Inside, he's converted. Not by love. By affordable prices. He loads up, takes it home, celebrates, and transforms into a regular dad doing the Asda pocket tap.

Let's be clear: Asda just said the quiet part out loud. Christmas is expensive. Families are struggling. And if a 1957 Dr. Seuss character can admit money matters, maybe we all can.

It's economically honest in a way that feels brave. Affordability isn't embarrassing—it's survival. Asda isn't pretending.

And honestly? Refreshing.

7. Morrisons - The Retail Truth Bomb (A.K.A. The Adults in the Room)

Morrisons did something radical: they told the truth.

They showed farmers, bakers, drivers, employees, working all year. Not just December. The whole year. Because here's what people don't know: Christmas starts in January. The previous January.

You brief in March. Develop in June. Coordinate all summer. And then customers walk into a stocked store in December and think, "How festive."

Morrisons said, "No. We're showing you the work."

As someone who spent years in retail in Europe and North America, covering I don't know how many Christmas products, marketing and comm development, let me tell you: this is the truth. Morrisons showed the invisible labor. The year-long grind that makes December possible.

They're not selling magic. They're selling proof. Proof they earned your trust. Proof that turkey took months to get there.

It's anti-greenwashing through radical transparency. And it's the most grown-up ad of the year.

8. John Lewis - The Vinyl That Saves a Father (A.K.A. The Adolescence Ad)

John Lewis made an ad about every British parent's nightmare: the silent teenager.

A dad finds a gift, a vinyl of "Where Love Lives." His son left it, then fled the room. The dad listens. Flashback to a 90s rave. His adult son is there, then becomes a toddler taking first steps. Back in the present, the dad hugs his son.

Tagline: "If you can't find the words, find the gift."

This isn't nostalgia. This is terror. The kid who won't talk. Who hides. Who you're losing in real time and don't know how to reach.

And John Lewis knows exactly what they're doing. Because 2025 was the year of Adolescence, the series that wrecked every British parent watching their own silent teenagers onscreen.

The vinyl is the only bridge left. The only language that works when words fail.

John Lewis isn't selling a product. They're selling a lifeline.

It's devastating. Brilliant. And you will absolutely cry.

9. M&S - Dawn French vs. Joy, Round 2 (The Grump Who Shows Up Anyway)

Dawn French is back. So is her sparkly Christmas Fairy nemesis.

This year: traffic jam. Fairy transforms an M&S truck into a pop-up feast. Dawn resists. Dawn grumbles. Dawn gives in.

It's bigger than last year. Same formula: reluctant participant + supernatural chaos + M&S food = festive capitulation.

Dawn French is a constant. And we need constants. She's the friend who hates Christmas but shows up anyway.

She's all of us.

The Verdict: Who Won 2025's Christmas Ads contest?

Waitrose wins because they built a full rom-com and knew exactly which Love Actually buttons to push. It's comfort. It's the bubble. It's perfect.

John Lewis wins for reading the cultural moment (Adolescence), identifying parental terror, and selling a vinyl-shaped lifeline. Brutal. Effective. Devastating.

Morrisons wins for honesty. They showed the work, honored the labor, reset the standard.

But here's what really won: recognition.

Recognition that Christmas is expensive (Asda). That it's awkward (Tesco). That we're clinging to safety blankets (Love Actually, Roald Dahl, Dr. Seuss). That big things are broken, so we focus on small kindnesses (Lidl). That your teenager won't talk and you're terrified (John Lewis).

The UK is tired. Tired of pretending. So these ads gave the truth, wrapped in glitter.

Because maybe the best gift isn't perfection. Maybe it's just knowing someone else gets it. Whether that's a retailer, a carrot, or a grumpy comedian on the M25.

Merry Christmas, you magnificent Brits. You've earned every awkward, expensive, beautiful second of it.