There have been so many commercials created over the past 75 years or so that it’s likely impossible to count them all. And so it makes sense that today’s advertisers strive to create spots that are as memorable and different as possible, which sometimes means absolute absurdity makes it to your TV screen. Such is the case with this Christmas ad for the U.K. wine store Oddbins. Check it out!
If you understood everything happening there, then I have to assume you work for Oddbins’ advertising team. Because otherwise, what kind of black mental magic have you been tapping into?
The premise of the commercial is sound and has been showing up in Christmas tales for as long as they’ve been around. A surly bastard with zero holiday spirit spills his humbuggedness on whoever happens to be happy around him, and then is brought around to the bright side of things so that he may appreciate Christmas just like everyone else. Only instead of ghosts from his past, present and future, this guy is stalked horror-movie-style by a fox. I almost wish the fox would have been more realistic and vicious looking while it was still inside the store, but I guess that’s not the point.
Thankfully for good tidings, the man gets somewhat horrifically dragged down into what is initially assumed to be a hellscape where foxes in scarves feed on the souls of the damned. But it’s revealed to actually just be a wine store cellar decked out in Christmas decorations, where food and TV watching and presents are plentiful and meant to be enjoyed.
This part leads to what is, to me, the weirdest part of the entire commercial.
WHOSE HAND IS THAT?!? (faints)
If we’re going for second and third place on the weirdness scale, then I’d have to include “fox basically placing fake lips on raw whole chicken” and “man jumping around on a pogo stick in the middle of a room full of easily breakable wine bottles.” I guess that second one isn’t weird, but he’s never actually shown drinking any wine during any of this, which seals the deal for me.
So I guess the moral of the story is: if you’re going to be a dickhead to a store clerk over holiday cheer, then you’d better be fine with getting taken away by a mammal and put into a place where all you get for Christmas is a bunch of good stuff. Seems like a flimsy moral.
