‘Tis the season for the holiday songs and specials to flood the market, and clothing store H&M is ahead of the curve. This new, elaborate holiday commercial starring Katy Perry clocks in at two minutes in a winter wonderland. Apparently, however, “’tis the season” for H&M and Katy Perry means producing a commercial that is really, really creepy. Check it out!
There’s so many odd things going on in this commercial that it’s difficult to say what is the most off-putting moment. First, The smiles on all of the performers are so constant that it’s super uncomfortable. The shirtless man on top of a convertible that is being dragged by a legion of festive women looks like he’s being sacrificed to the gods of happiness and merriness. The dancing of the expressionless gingerbread men and teddy bears kind-of gives the impression that they’re biding their time as the slaves of humanity until they can stage an assault and take over the world like adorable little Terminators.
Katy Perry herself is pretty creepy in the commercial. Her wardrobe changes from that of a grinning fairy to a sort of festive Cruella De Vil to a nutcracker soldier. It's just downright bizarre, and the peppy repeating of the chorus of new holiday single “Every Day Is A Holiday” feels like Perry and H&M are trying to condition viewers into instinctively needing to hit up the nearest shopping mall. It's a sensory overload of people dressed like animals and animals dancing like people and dancers covered head to toe with white sparkly costuming. For some reason, there is even a polar bear. Why is there a polar bear? There does not need to be a polar bear.
Still, the weirdest part may well be the fact that the commercial just keeps on going. Every time that it feels like the ad might be coming to an end, there is a scene change and costume change and another round of “Every day is a holiday!” to ramp up the cheer again.
None of this is to say that Katy Perry’s song isn’t actually super catchy, and the ad probably will work to bring shoppers in for some holiday shopping, even if it’s just on the chance that visiting an H&M store will lift the curse and free their brains from the refrain of the song.
All in all, Katy Perry’s Christmas commercial for H&M plays like there has been a brainstorming session of every single image associated with winter and Christmas that is then brought in entirety to the screen for a musical extravaganza with an explosion of grins and glitter. H&M may be going for a “happy and merry” slogan this holiday season, but folks might be a lot more of both if this Katy Perry commercial is forgotten.
