This year's John Lewis Christmas advert features the vocals of American singer Mike Geier.
The department store released its highly anticipated Christmas 2022 advert today. The ad, titled 'The Beginner', features a middle-aged man learning to skateboard before welcoming a young teenager into the family home.
The soundtrack to the ad is provided by American singer Mike Geier, who performs a cover of All The Small Things, originally released by Blink 182 in 1999. The singer has a number of credits to his name, including writing songs for Nickelodeon TV shows Victorious and iCarly.
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On Spotify, Mike is listed as Puddles Pity Party and his version of All The Small Things is available there. Covers of Michael Andrews' Mad World and Lorde's Royals are also listed.
John Lewis’ 90-second advert leaves viewers questioning the motive behind the man’s perseverance in learning how to skateboard until the final scene, which shows a social worker arriving at his door with young teenager Ellie, who has arrived at her new foster home carrying her skateboard.
John Lewis said it understood that not all foster carers had the benefit of knowing who they would be looking after in advance and that its broader campaign also featured "authentic voices of carers" and "young people with different experiences of a complex care system".
But it said that "in a challenging year, we felt it was important to demonstrate that it's what we do that matters most", adding it was proud to use its Christmas ad to "generate conversation and action around an often overlooked issue".
The ad was created with agency adam&eveDDB, with John Lewis refusing to reveal a budget. It is almost entirely devoid of product placement except for two brief glimpses of the retailer's Lewis Bear toy.
Customers can buy products including the £30 bear, £19 Lewis Bear pyjamas, a £5 Lewis Bear tote bag and a Rampage Skateboard for £34.99, with 25% of the sales going to the two affiliated charities.
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