Have you seen the big Christmas advert yet? Usually at this time of year, the focus is on John Lewis and their budget blowing mini movie advert. However, all eyes this year have been on the M&S advert. The advert creates a number of typically traditional celebratory scenes, however there is a twist, the character involved set out to destroy those trappings of Christmas. The message seems to be that you can choose to celebrate Christmas in whatever way you prefer. You don’t have to include all the traditional trimmings and trappings. Indeed, it seems almost preferable that you don’t. There is little mention of products, unless some of the things in the scenes are product placements from M&S. However, the concluding slogan is followed up with the simple slogan “M&S” making it clear that for whatever your Christmas wants and wishes you should head down to Marks and Sparks.
This seems to have provoked quite a lot of outrage. Katherine Birbalsingh, even took the trouble to write a letter of complaint to M&S.
Well apart from the heavy handed rhetoric, the faux, outrage, the hyperbole that sadly seems to pass for rhetoric and persuasive argument these days, what is Katherine’s argument? It is that Marks and Spencer’s have failed morally because they have “a duty as our national department store to keep the spirit of Christmas alive for the sake of our children.”
Now, whilst describing M&S as “our national department store” may be a clever piece of flattering rhetoric to fluff the egos of the chain’s executives, it is of course nonsense. I’m sure that John Lewis, Selfridges and House of Fraser would want to have a say in the matter. However, there is no such thing as “our national department store.” We didn’t need lockdowns in 2020 to protect “our national department store” and Keir Starmer won’t be campaigning in the General Election on the slogan “one day to save our national department store.”
The truth is that Marks and Spencer’s are a commercial entity. The duty of those signing off adverts is to maximise sales and so increase shareholder dividends. If you were shocked to see an advert that appeared driven by commercial self interest then why are you shocked?
Moreover, because M&S is a business owned and run by ordinary people like you and me, we cannot expect it to lead on cultural and moral matters. It is by nature a follower of public opinion. M&S after all will want to align their values with what will be popular and what will sell. As someone once said “I have principles and if you don’t like them, I can change them for you.”
Here we come to the crux of the matter. Do we really think that people are going to change their mind about Christmas because of an M&S advertisement? Do we really believe that up until now, the general public were primarily seeking and opportunity to do good to others, to care for the poor, to find a source of lasting hope? Do we think that the tinsel, party crowns and elf on the shelf wee all about those good values too?
And whisper it quietly but if all we’ve got in response to commercialism and selfish greed are a few Victorian stories and some quaint past-times then that’s not going to change the narrative. One friend on twitter suggested that we could have expected some mirth and kindness from the advert because we can at least expect signs of “common grace.” However, I would argue that if a culture has moved further and further away from special grace (the Gospel), then it is less and less likely to benefit from the overflow of God’s grace. Common grace gets watered down. We can no longer use it to wrap up our secular goodies. That’s no bad thing if it exposes the ugliness of a Christ-less Christmas.
You see, if we want to make the case for a big, joyful bountiful generous Christmas, then we need something more than Dickens and party crowns at the centre of it all. It is because God came down in the person of Jesus, lived among us, died for us and rose again that we have reason to celebrate. And its because of that celebration, of that-mas if you like that we can find hope and can be motivated in love for others.
Faithroots 