VIRAL VIDEO: John Lewis Holiday Ad

Britain’s John Lewis department store chain has once again gone viral with its annual holiday commercial. Some are finding the metaphors in this year’s clip to be rather puzzling. Via the Guardian:

How come he’s on the moon? That’s probably the first question you asked yourself upon seeing the new John Lewis advert this morning. Well, maybe not the first – that was either “What sort of little girl owns such a powerful telescope?” or “How is he still alive without any oxygen? Shouldn’t his skull have exploded in a huge arc of bone and gore the second he took his helmet off, like that bit in Total Recall?” – but it’s likely to be the one that stuck with you. Clearly, the answer is that the old man is a monster. That’s the only logical explanation. Napoleon only got exiled to a Mediterranean island, for crying out loud, and he was Napoleon. But this guy has literally been jettisoned to the moon. He is hundreds of thousands of miles away from the nearest human. What could he possibly have done to warrant such punishment? At least the little girl bought him a telescope, though. She could have bought him food, or a companion, or a ticket back to Earth. But no, she bought a telescope, dooming him to spend the rest of his miserable life watching everyone else have much more fun than him. What a fist to the face. Take that, Moon Hitler.

Last year’s ad is the second clip below. Much better.