It’s officially that time of year once again… the John Lewis Christmas advert has been released to the world this morning.
November is here, the festive season is right around the corner, the 2023 Manchester Christmas Markets officially start tomorrow, and now, after teasing it on social media for the past few days and leaving the nation waiting with baited breath, the department store retailer has finally unveiled its 2023 Christmas advert.
And this year, the company has taken things in quite a different direction to usual.
After John Lewis toned things down and took it back to basics with its annual festive commercial in 2022, choosing to “shine a light on the overlooked issue” of children in the UK foster care system amid the rising cost of living crisis, the meaning behind this year’s ad isn’t quite so poignant… or at least, we think?
With a Venus flytrap being the star of the show, and an Italian opera song by one of the genre’s most-famous names providing the soundtrack, the retailer definitely seems to have switched things up for 2023.
Titled Snapper: The Perfect Tree, and with the promotional strapline ‘Let Your Traditions Grow’, John Lewis’ refreshed approach to its festive marketing this year is one that focuses on fostering and nurturing family seasonal traditions… but not it the most obvious way.
The advert follows a young boy who begs his Grandma to let him buy a seed in a box from their local market, before showing him lovingly-nurturing the seed into a plant with the belief he’s growing a spectacular Christmas tree.
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But to his surprise, it’s not a Christmas tree at all, and actually turns out to be a Venus flytrap with a playful personality – which the boy names ‘Snapper’.
Despite not being traditional, Snapper wants to join in all the fun of Christmas anyway, but he sadly grows too big for the living room and is then cast out into the cold garden outside.
The 2023 John Lewis Christmas ad is out and it features a Venus flytrap and Italian opera / Credit: John Lewis
As the two-minute ad continues, we see Snapper eventually welcomed back into the home, after he dishes out presents with such joy and enthusiasm that the family finds new joy in gathering around their unconventional Christmas tree.
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So as you can see, it’s not what many were expecting.
The soundtrack of John Lewis’ Christmas ads are always another talking point, and are usually covers of well-known or under-appreciated songs and often performed by upcoming artists, but this year, the music is provided by the legendary tenor, Andrea Bocelli performing a song called ‘Festa’.
The Italian opera song was written and produced by Le Feste Antonacci specifically for the John Lewis advert.
The retailer has adopted the strapline ‘Let Your Traditions Grow’ for 2023 / Credit: John Lewis
“Many of us have our own unique festive traditions and that makes them even more special,” explained Charlotte Lock, who is the Customer Director at John Lewis, “and this film celebrates themes of family and evolving traditions.
“It shows that a ‘perfect’ Christmas is finding joy together with loved ones, whatever your traditions.”
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John Lewis’ Marketing Director, Rosie Hanley, says the retailer hopes the nation “falls in love” with the wannabe Christmas tree Snapper “as much as we have”.
“He embodies what’s magical about Christmas – bringing loved ones together, holding on to what we all love about Christmas traditions and embracing new ones.”
You can watch the 2023 John Lewis Christmas advert in full here.
Featured Image – John Lewis
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Noel Gallagher says he had to ‘switch off’ Kendrick Lamar’s ‘nonsense’ Super Bowl performance
Danny Jones
Noel Gallagher has revealed he wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of the Kendrick Lamar Halftime Show at this year’s Super Bowl.
In case you’ve been living under a giant American football-shaped rock over the last few days, US rapper Kendrick Lamar enjoyed a much bigger second bite at what was already a bit of a ‘break-the-internet’ moment this past Sunday.
Having been chosen to headline Super Bowl LIX, the 37-year-old’s provocative performance during the Halftime Show had plenty of political messaging and made one VERY big and not-so-subtle statement about fellow feuding rapper Drake, sending those watching and reacting on social media into a frenzy.
That being said, despite being the most-watched Halftime Show in the event’s history, not everyone was so keen on it and one of those people, it turns out, was Manchester’s very own Noel Gallagher.
Noel perfrming at Wythenshawe Park.Kendrick’s Super Bowl meme sent round the world.
Speaking on to talkSPORT ahead of Manchester City’s Champions League game against Real Madrid on Tuesday night (which didn’t exactly go to plan…), the Oasis singer, songwriter and lead guitarist was asked if he was a fan of the Super Bowl, to which he revealed he’s been watching the NFL for some time.
With host Andy Goldstein then searching for his opinion on Kendrick and the Halftime Show, Noel began by saying, simply: “I had to switch it off…
“It was absolute nonsense”, said Gallagher, admitting that while he refused to watch all of it, he was initially confused by “like 300 people getting out of a car for the first two minutes.”
He went on to add that it wasn’t necessarily a personal thing against the hip-hop star that he just doesn’t usually rate “the halftime nonsense”, claiming that “it’s usually artists I don’t like.” When asked about his favourite past Super Bowl Halftime performances.
Truth be told, he said he never typically watches it anyway, insisting that he’s “not interested” in the over-the-top spectacle that $10-20 million and often comes under criticism for its artist selection.
We’d like to imagine a world where the older Gallagher brother and ‘King Kenny’ have nothing but mutual respect and admiration for their respective music careers but it’s fair to say he isn’t keen on the Halftime Show shenanigans.
Don’t hold your breath for a surprise Oasis appearance at next year’s Super Bowl.
You can watch Kendrick Lamar’s performance in full HERE or to see it broken down in more detail, check out the video down below:
Featured Images — RTP (via Flickr)/FOX/DAZN (screenshot)
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Blackpool named the UK’s ‘most romantic’ place for a getaway
Emily Sergeant
It may not be a headline you were expecting to read today, but the best places in the UK for a romantic getaway have just been named.
And Blackpool is sitting right at the top of the list.
In case you hadn’t heard, or clocked the date yet, Valentine’s Day is coming up on Friday, so what better way to celebrate the international day of love in all its glory than whisking you and your loved one away on a romantic trip or day out, right?
While most couples would probably have faraway tropical island resorts or European cosmopolitan cities at the top of their travel bucket lists, realistically, that doesn’t always fit into everyone’s budgets, and often leaves us having to stay a little closer to home… but, is Lancashire a little too close? We’d have to go with yes.
Don’t get us wrong, there’s some stunning rural Lancashire villages and towns that should absolutely be destinations on your lists to visit sometime soon, but Blackpool doesn’t exactly scream romance.
Blackpool has been named one of the UK’s ‘most romantic’ places for a getaway / Credit: Pixahive | Pexels
Despite our initial reactions, it’s true – the Lancashire seaside resort town has been named the best place in the UK for a romantic getaway, according to a research study by travel deals site Tripplo.
The company examined several factors to devise the list of six, including the number of romantic hotels in each city, the total number of reviews for romantic hotels in each town, the average number of reviews, the average Booking.com rating, the average price, and the average star rating – with all hotels filtered using Booking.com’s ‘romantic hotels’ filter.
An overall ‘romance score’ was then created for each location by equally taking into consideration the number of romantic hotels per 100,000 people, average Booking.com rating, average price per night, and average star rating.
And Blackpool came out as number one.
The seaside resort town achieved an overall romance score of 73.34 out of 100 / Credit: Mark McNeill (via Unsplash)
Achieving an overall romance score of 73.34 out of 100, Blackpool, impressively, was found to have 60 romantic hotels per 100,000 people – which is the sixth highest amount in the UK – and an average Booking.com rating of 8.81, while it also ranked as the cheapest, with the average price of an overnight stay being £103.95 per night.
It did, however, have an average star rating for the romantic hotels as 3.55, which is unfortunately the third lowest in the country.
If Blackpool in the top spot wasn’t shocking enough as it is, the rest of the list is also pretty questionable too – with the top six being rounded out by Preston, Bath, Wrexham, Chester, and, wait for it… Burnley.
So for once when it comes to a top 10 ranking, the North – and particularly, the North West – is a very well-represented region, so let’s take our wins where we can get them.
Emily Sergeant -
9th November 2023 
