I’ve covered tv, movies, and music, but what of holiday commercials?
Certainly, most of the impassioned Christians would say that the holiday has become too commercialized, more focused on the capitalistic gift buying rather than the birth of their Savior. That’s not up to me to decide, but as a Jewish girl who grew up with Christmas, I strongly appreciate the gifts and sweaters of it all. So, to double down on the “commercialism” of modern Christmas, I want to give a shout out to my favorite holiday commercials. Nowadays, with streaming and paying extra to remove ads, I don’t see commercials a lot anymore. However, there’s something to be said for these commercials. They would start airing midway through November for me as a kid, symbolizing the end of Halloween and the beginning of winter break! See you next year, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” hello “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
All of this to say, here’s to the most saccharine holiday commercials during the holiday season!
Favorite Holiday Commercials
1. Campbell’s Soup, Let it Snow. This one more talks about winter, rather than Christmas. However, it still counts! A snowman comes to life… but it’s freezing outdoors! He shuffles his way indoors, where he takes a bite of soup as he melts back into a smiling kid. It’s sweeter than I describe it, I promise.
2. Hershey’s Kisses, with Bells. I’ve shouted out this commercial before during the holiday season. They recently remade it for a modern audience, but I think you can’t beat the classic. This year, while searching for stocking stuffers, I noticed that Hershey actually makes “bells” this time of year! Now THAT’S an opportunity.
3. Coca Cola, Polar Bears and Penguins. No matter what you believe about this time of year, Christmas is the time where we all get together as a family. Even back during the World Wars, both sides took breaks on Christmas. Now there were CLEAR BAD GUYS DURING THE WORLD WAR. BAD GUYS. However, it’s interesting that at the end of the day, we all want the same things. The rest of it is just… how much do we need it, you know? Anyway, soapbox over, here’s a cartoon party in the Arctic.
Raw footage of me watching these commercials as I link them.
I miss being ten years old. All I wanted was to be a Cheetah Girl and have straight A’s, INCLUDING MATH. The holiday season reminds me of that time. So, even though I specifically avoid ads now to focus on content, on the rare occasion I do catch myself watching tv with ads, if I see these holiday commercials, I don’t leave the room. It’s a nice memory trigger, and nice memories mean the most. Can you believe at one point “Mad Men” had me wanting to make commercials in high school?