Welcome to Day 3 of the Virtual Advent Tour! We’re suckers for Christmas short films in the Burrow, so I thought I’d share a few for today’s post.
Much like the commercials Hallmark used to air during their Hall of Fame movies (do they air them still now that they have a whole channel to themselves?) or some of the Super Bowl ads, companies in the U.K. create long-form, story-based commercials they air during the holidays. Here’s the one for H&M this year, filmed by Wes Anderson and starring Adrien Brody:
While many of us know H&M by name, at least, in the U.S. John Lewis is a distinguished civil rights leader, Congressman, and award-winning author, rather than a department store. Looking at their website, I’m guessing they’re maybe somewhat similar to Target. But whatever they are, they’ve got a cute commercial:
A couple voices you might recognize:
Stephen Fry, from the Alzheimer’s Foundation UK:
James Cordon, from Sainsbury’s (a grocery store):
And maybe my favorite, from Marks & Spencer (another Target-like store):
You can see some more of this year’s UK Christmas adverts here, including the one that the article’s writer thinks is the best.
Stop back here tomorrow for a new post for the Virtual Advent Tour. And if you’re interested in taking part in the tour, badges, details, and sign-up info can be found here. We’d love to have you participate.
A few other Advent-y things going on around the internet:
- Book Riot has a holiday short story, song, poem, or essay every day for Advent.
- Riveted, an online community of YA literature fans, is running the 12 Days of Reading. For the first 12 days of December, they’ll be sharing the complete text of a book a day. They’ll all be online and free to read (with site registration) through the end of the month.
- The annual Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge for those reading holiday-themed books.
- Similarly, the Whole Lotta Xmas Reading Challenge.
- Drops’ Christmas calendar, featuring a new knitting pattern every day.
- 12 Days of Christmas Book Giveaways from the Roanoke Times Books section (Today’s is Matt Haig’s A Boy Called Christmas, which I have on my shelf to read this season.)