# John Lewis Christmas Ad Criticised For Rewarding Bad Behaviour

> The new John Lewis Christmas ad has drawn criticism for depicting unruly children whose bad behaviour is ultimately rewarded with expensive gifts.

- Publisher: Briefzora (https://briefzora.com)
- URL: https://briefzora.com/john-lewis-christmas-ad-criticised-for-rewarding-bad-behaviour
- Published: 2026-11-04T02:00:00+05:00
- Author: Briefzora Desk (https://briefzora.com/author/briefzora-desk)
- Section: Lifestyle
- Topics: Opinion, The Sun Newspaper, Sun Club, Features, Print Features, John Lewis Christmas advert
- Image: https://briefzora.com/uploads/2026/11/john-lewis-ad-is-a-woke-fantasy-with-two-brats-and-gentle-parenting-5epgup.webp

## Key points

- The new John Lewis Christmas ad features two children arriving at their grandmother's house.
- The grandmother is played by Dame Kristin Scott Thomas.
- The children jump on the sofa and make a mess in the office.
- Vintage pull-along dog Pickles is voiced by Paul Whitehouse.

## Why it matters

Viewers watching the holiday commercial see a depiction of modern parenting and child behaviour that some find frustrating.

## Article

The long-awaited John Lewis Christmas ad has dropped and brought the author to tears of frustration. For far from depicting a heart-warming message about the simple joys of spending time with family over the festive season, it shows a pair of spoilt brats arriving at the home of their devoted grandmother played by Dame Kristin Scott Thomas.

Firstly, they rudely dash past her at the door, then we see them jumping up and down on her sofa as their impassive mother sighs hopelessly, sorry, I think they need something to do. At this point, the author rather hoped that the Dame might raise a withering eyebrow before dispatching some much-needed home truths to her little grand-darlings, like getting their feet off the sofa.

## Why the John Lewis Commercial Disappoints

As this is woke fantasy rather than reality, the grandmother goes into the attic to retrieve vintage, pull-along dog Pickles for them to play with. Meanwhile, they make a mess in her office by pulling books off the shelf before running off at the sound of kids, lunch is ready.

Pickles, voiced by Paul Whitehouse, says jollily that you can do better than cash, leading to a manic sleigh-ride jaunt to John Lewis. Brat 1 and Brat 2 shake open their cards to see if there is money in them, before granny coquettishly dangles a key and takes them to a secret room stuffed with expensive Christmas decorations, leading to a final hug.

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