The crown of the best Christmas advert has been strongly held by John Lewis since 2007. From the moment their reign began, their right to the seat on the throne has weakened with many challengers arriving each and every year. Every supermarket and shop has tried and failed bar one. Aldi. Who now own the crown.

 

Each year they have gone from strength to strength with their adverts maintaining a credible threat to the mighty John Lewis. This competition began in 2015 when Aldi made a parody advert to the emotional but abysmal John Lewis advert ‘the man on the moon’. Incredibly this became a national sensation as people across the country applauded the quick turn around to create an advert so quickly in response to John Lewis. Riding the wave that the mighty Lewis created and seemed unreachable. 20 days is all it took for Aldi to recreate and mock what was meant to be another blockbuster from John Lewis. 20 days.

 

Many people have struggled to capture the magic of a John Lewis advert. Independent filmmakers and Youtubers have tried but failed. Aldi managed to capture this with the lovable story of Kevin the Carrot who was made in 2016. Kevin has been used in every advert since with a different adventure for him each year. No matter how many times he is strung to a cheese grater by the Leafy Blinders, it always makes sense and people love it. There is a Kevin wiki and fandom as well as toys that sell well every year. Aldi’s rise to the top comes down to the success and love for Kevin the Carrot.

 

Each story told by Aldi is done to perfection. Rather than releasing one measly advert every year they take time, effort and care into producing multiple adverts that tell one continuous story. With the most recent advert beginning the story of Ebanana Scrooge. A classic tale told through fruits and vegetables to teach people the spirit of Christmas. The attention to detail is unmatched with each character having their name involving what food they are. This creates a comedic way of presenting the message which makes for entertaining viewing. It really makes them stand out from the pack.

 

The subliminal messaging every year is a touch of genius. After the debacle with M&S over a caterpillar cake, Aldi had to remove Cuthbert the Caterpillar from their shelves. So Aldi did what any company would do and that’s by making a mockery out of the situation on Twitter. They managed to begin campaigns for Cuthbert the Caterpillar to be saved from the wrath of M&S with #freecuthbert trending on Twitter. This resulted in a picture of Cuthbert behind bars being tweeted by Aldi. Which has resulted in Cuthbert being visibly arrested by the lemon police in their latest advert. Is this the main story of the advert? No. But it’s storytelling and details like this that make the Aldi adverts so clever.

 

This is not the only time either. They even reference a political topic with Marcus Radishford being a character. Kevin says that Marcus is always helping children which is to do with the pressure that Rashford put on the Government to help feed children during the last troubling year. This type of storytelling and cinematography is what earns films Oscars. Yet we are graced with this each and every year by Aldi.

 

To top it all off, Aldi have so far beaten John Lewis in the latest Christmas advert viewing figures. Currently sitting at 2.2 million views to John Lewis’ 2.1 million views, Aldi are sitting atop the Christmas Advert throne holding a Kevin the Carrot sceptre. While John Lewis proceeds to become the ghost of Christmas adverts past, Aldi has become the ghost of Christmas adverts present. But the question on everybody’s mind, who will be the ghost of Christmas adverts yet to come?