The holidays are here and the barrage of advertisements has begun, but one brand is standing above the rest for their powerful message this season.
U.K. retailer John Lewis & Partners, known for their imaginative Christmas advertisements, is instead putting a spotlight on an important cause for 2022.
In this year’s highly anticipated ad, the brand has launched “The Beginner” which shares the story of a family preparing to welcome a child in foster care — but the viewer doesn’t know that at first.
As the 90-second ad begins, a man is seen buckling on a helmet and attempting to learn — unsuccessfully — to skateboard.
A cover of Blink 182’s “All The Small Things” by Mike Geier begins to play as the man’s efforts progress through more falls and skateboard-related injuries through the Christmas season.
At the end of the video, the family is seen opening the door to a social worker and a girl, who is holding her skateboard. “I skate a bit too,” the man says pointing to his own battered board.
The ad ends with a frame sharing that there are more than 108,000 children and young people in the U.K.’s care system.
In the United States, according to a 2021 report by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 391,000 children are in foster care.
In just 24 hours since being shared, the ad has amassed more than 2.2 million views.
“As someone who’s been in the care system myself as a child, this really feels close to home … It does make you think about how powerful adverts can be, even if they are simple and basic,” one user wrote.
Another added, “This hits home really hard, as a former foster kid who was in the system for 11 years. It’s really heartwarming to see this.”
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“there will come a time when you believe everything is finished. yet that will be the beginning.”
-louis l’amour
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credits: today show, kait hanson, john lewis and partners
Warehouse giant Costco likes to do everything big, from super-sized bottles of ketchup to barrels full of Jack Daniel’s whiskey. Their latest exclusive offering: A jigsaw puzzle with 60,000 pieces that may take up an entire room when it’s finished.
The sprawling What a Wonderful World puzzle is actually 60 interconnected 1000-piece puzzles to make assembly (somewhat) feasible. Each features a painting from the Dowdle Art Studio of a fascinating landmark from different parts of the world, including The Great Wall of China and The Eiffel Tower.
Once each section is completed, it can be connected to the larger canvas. When finished, the puzzle measures 8 feet tall and 29 feet wide. An included legend helps you keep track of which puzzle goes where in the literal bigger picture of things. Costco has declared it the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle, and that’s likely to be true. The What a Wonderful World puzzle retails for $599.
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“the world is like a dropped pie most of the time.
don’t kill yourself trying to put it back together.
just grab a fork and eat some of it off the floor. then carry on.”
-elizabeth gilbert
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credits: penn news, chris hopkins, jake rosin, mental floss,