The iconic ‘Kevin the Carrot’ is back for Aldi’s new 2021 Christmas advert, and he’s recruited the help of some pals for a very important cause.
The budget supermarket retailer has certainly become known for its Christmas adverts starring everyone’s favourite carrot character in recent years, and this year, it’s absolutely no different, as the release of the 2021 edition yesterday evening soon amassed millions of views and thousands of comments and interactions.
The advert is a take on Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol – renamed ‘A Christmas Carrot by Charles Chickens’ – and it features various different, and excellently-named, festive food-themed characters including its lead ‘Ebanana Scrooge’, and Kevin himself taking on the role of ‘the Spirit of Christmas’.
The story follows the Christmas-loathing Ebanana, who is reminded of the joys of the festive season by the Spirit of Christmas until he eventually realises the positives of Christmas, and goes around spreading goodwill.
But there’s one name from the advert that everyone’s talking about – ‘Marcus Radishford’.
During Ebanana and the Spirit of Christmas’s whistle-stop tour of the joys of Christmas, they encounter a smiley red radish named ‘Marcus Radishford’, which is of course a clever pun based on the Manchester United and England footballer, and is actually voiced by the 24-year-old Wythenshawe-born striker too.
“Look, there’s Marcus Radishford – he’s always helping kids,” the Spirit of Christmas tells Ebanana on their tour.
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“Merry Christmas Kevin,” Marcus Radishford replies.
And Marcus’s inclusion is for a brilliant cause as well, as for the advert, Aldi has partnered with award-winning giving platform Neighbourly – which helps businesses make a positive impact in their communities by donating volunteer time, money, and surplus products, all in one place – to donate 1.8 million meals to families in need this Christmas.
Aldi already currently works with Neighbourly to donate its surplus food to local causes.
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“As a family, we relied on the local food bank to get our Christmas dinner,” Marcus Rashford explained, adding: “To this day, I remember queuing outside that building with mum, mum feeling embarrassed that she might be recognise [and] it’s with that in mind that I’m delighted to lend my support to the Aldi campaign.”
During Ebanana and the Spirit of Christmas’s whistle-stop tour, they encounter a smiley red radish named Marcus Radishford / Credit: Aldi UK & Ireland
Marcus continued: “For many children in situations like mine growing up, there is very little expectation around this time of year, add the impact of the pandemic and the very least they deserve is a Christmas dinner.”
He also added on Twitter: “Well done Aldi, this is much bigger than a Christmas ad. [It] might not be Oscar-worthy, but glad I could play my part.”
Sean McGinty – Marketing Director at Aldi UK – added: “Christmas is a time for hope, and we’re privileged to be working with Marcus, who is one of the most inspirational young people in the UK, having done so much in the past 18 months to help provide free school meals for children.
“At the same time, it wouldn’t be the festive season without Kevin the Carrot on our TV screens, and we’re thrilled to be bringing him back for the sixth year for his many fans, in what we think is his best Yuletide performance yet.
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“We hope our campaign will remind everyone of the true meaning of Christmas.”
“We hope our campaign will remind everyone of the true meaning of Christmas.” / Credit: Aldi UK & Ireland
Steve Butterworth – Chief Executive at Neighbourly – said: “We’re delighted to be supporting Aldi in their year-round food redistribution programme and in their commitment to donate 1.8 million meals this Christmas.
“These donations will help a record number of families across the UK during what is expected to be the busiest year on record for local charities and causes.”
You can watch the 2021 Aldi Christmas advert in full here.
Featured Image – Aldi UK & Ireland
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Pep Guardiola delivers gutting news as Man City are hit with Erling Haaland injury blow
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola has passed on some gutting fitness news for Manchester City fans as star striker Erling Haaland is confirmed to be injured for several weeks and could even miss the rest of the Premier League season.
The title might be out of reach this year, and the Champions League knockout against Real Madrid was definitely hard for Blues to take, but with Man City into the semi-finals of the FA Cup, there’s still a very strong chance they could end 2024/25 with a piece of silverware.
However, they’ll have to make it through another two massive rounds at Wembley and seemingly the remainder of the season without Haaland and his goals, as the Catalan coach revealed that the club expects him to be out injured for “six to seven weeks.”
Not exactly how City fans would have wanted to see the rest of an already frustrating season play out.
🗣️ "We don't have another player with his skills."
Relaying diagnosis from the medical team, Pep said the hope is that the big Norwegian number nine could be back for the very tail end of the campaign, but at the very least, he “will be ready for the [FIFA Club] World Cup.”
He went on to add that “these kinds of things happen” and that he feels “sorry” for all of the other injuries that have befell his squad up till now, adding that they can only hope for a speedy recovery and for him to return as soon as possible.
The 24-year-old hasn’t had too many big injury problems in his career thus far, although his longest spell on the sidelines did come at the end of 2023 when a stress fracture kept him out until the new year.
This time around, Haaland suffered an injury to his ankle during the City’s FA Cup win over Bournemouth on Sunday following a challenge from defensive midfielder Lewis Cook.
He was forced in the second half and was seen leaving the Vitality Stadium on crutches after the game.
Erling Haaland seen leaving Bournemouth in a protective boot and crutches. 🤕
Having led the golden boot race for a good chunk of the season – as he’s become accustomed too since he arrived in England – City‘s sub-optimal season has seen him slink into second behind high-flying Mo Salah on 27, but he still has a couple dozen goals and a trio of assists to show for it.
Speaking of Salah, the soon-to-leave ‘Egyptian King’ has been the talisman for Liverpool this season, and his contributions could see them lift the trophy in Arne Slot’s first season as early as 13 April, depending on how fellow title rivals Arsenal fare in their next two matches.
As for how City round out their domestic campaign, reclaiming the FA Cup after last year’s derby disappointment looks like the main goal.
You can watch Pep Guardiola’s press conference ahead of the game against Leicester City at 19:45pm tomorrow (Wednesday, 2 April) in full HERE.
Hilarious study names Manchester as one of the UK’s most hungover cities
Emily Sergeant
Manchester has been named one of the UK’s most hungover cities, according to a hilarious new study.
Let’s be honest, we’ve all had one of those mornings – or a lot more than one, for many of us.
The kind where you wake up regretting ordering that last pint, or your decision to mix your drinks, questioning every life choice while desperately Googling ‘hangover cures that actually work’… but it turns out that some UK cities are way more prone to struggling with hangovers than others, and Manchester is one of them.
In a bid to uncover where in the country people are searching for hangover cures the most, alcohol-free beer brand Mash Gang has crunched the numbers and analysed more than 5.5 million Google searches across every city.
Manchester has been named one of the UK’s most hungover cities / Credit: Kraken Images (via Unsplash)
We always knew Manchester would be close to the top, but in this instance, we’ve actually just missed out on the number one spot, as our city has officially been ranked the second most hungover in the UK, just behind the ‘undisputed hungover capital’ itself, which is Birmingham.
According to the study, whether it’s the legendary Northern Quater or the city’s famous Gay Village, us Mancs are waking up with sore heads a lot more than anywhere else in the North.
While the North can often be underrepresented in top 10 lists, this doesn’t seem to be the case here, as other major cities such as Liverpool, Leeds, and Sheffield have all earned their place.
UK’s top 10 most hungover cities
Birmingham
Manchester
Liverpool
Bristol
Leeds
Newcastle
Sheffield
Plymouth
Coventry
Wolverhampton
It’s all according to a new survey finding the city with the most sore heads in the country / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash)
On the other end of the scale, Ripon has emerged as the UK’s least hungover city, closely followed by Carlisle, which means that if you’re looking for a place to escape temptation, or to just find people who actually get up early on weekends, then you know where to head to.
As well as the top 10 list, Mash Gang’s analysis data also showed just how much people are looking for hangover solutions, as in just the past month alone, there have been 178,000 searches for “hair of the dog,” and the search term “hangover food” has been looked up 72,000 times in the same period.
On top of this, searches for ‘zebra striping’ – which is a method where people alternate alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks to lessen the impact of drinking – have also increased by 424% in the past quarter.
Emily Sergeant -
11th November 2021 
