It’s too early to know what the advertising spend for Christmas 2022 was. According to the Guardian, John Lewis did not spend as much on its famous annual ad as usual.
Last year the Sun reported that the ad cost around £800,000 to make, and £5 million to promote and distribute. And a Guardian article reported that UK companies overall spent a whopping £7.9 billion on ads in the run up to Christmas 2021, the highest ever recorded by the Advertising Association.
But whatever the spend this year, the purpose will have been the same as usual – to convince us that Christmas is one of the happiest times of the year.
But the problem with Christmas is that there is a disconnect between what you see on TV and real life.
For Simon Miles, a lecturer at the University of East London (UEL) Christmas when he was a child wasn’t as picturesque or one-dimensional as those Christmas cards on the mantlepiece.
“Regardless of the love, by the time the Christmas pudding arrived, my mum was usually in tears and at least one glass was broken.”
There are many factors which can derail Christmas and spill that Christmas spirit. For example Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) or “winter depression” is recognised by the NHS as the cause of “a persistent low mood.” Causes are often linked to seasonal lack of sunlight.
If you ask people what would make a bad Christmas, most will say that it would be spending it alone.
Shirin, a 23-year-old university student from Germany, recounted one Christmas when she was forced to isolate. “I was supposed to fly home for Christmas. However, when I arrived at the airport, they told me my test came back positive.
“When I got back home, I had absolutely no supplies since I had planned to be gone for a month and I couldn’t even leave my room. I had to have my friend’s mom deliver groceries through my window. Definitely the worst Christmas I have had.”
An article published in 2018 by the Age UK charity quoted research which predicted around half a million older people were expected to be alone at Christmas that year. It also stated that around 80% of them would not seek help. The study also found that more than half a million older people don’t look forward to Christmas because it brings back memories of people they’ve lost.
Martha is 27 and works in publishing. She recalled a time when she felt lonely during Christmas. “I actually didn’t end up having enough money to fly home. Tickets had gotten expensive, and I had already been struggling to pay my bills.”
She was still determined to have a fun Christmas with friends, albeit far from home. But…
“I didn’t realise that all my mates had decided to go home last minute leaving me all alone to fend for myself. I also forgot that a lot of things were closed on Christmas, including transportation. I was stuck walking around my neighbourhood all day and was bored out of my mind.”
Armin, a 19-year-old waiter, thought he would be spending Christmas with family, but then the inevitable happened. “I went home to have Christmas with my family last year. Two days before Christmas I began to feel a bit ill. On Christmas Eve I took a Covid test and my worst fears were confirmed: I had Covid. I was isolated from my family on Christmas, which sucked. I had to celebrate by myself in my room while the rest of my family celebrated downstairs together.”
But while most associate being alone with a horrible Christmas, some of the worst experiences can occur when you are actually with other people. In the case of Camden, another East London student I spoke to, the problem was being with other people for too long!
“Me and my girlfriend went home for Christmas one year and it was the first time I had taken her home to meet my parents. We had planned to be there for two weeks so we had packed enough stuff for two weeks. Everything was going well until two days before we were set to leave, the UK went into lockdown and we were stuck there. It was awful and so boring living in Cornwall for two months. And remember we only had two weeks’ worth of stuff, so we had to keep re-washing those clothes.”
Simon recounted one of the saddest phone calls he received while working as a Samaritan volunteer. “A mother had locked herself in the bathroom upstairs while her family fell apart downstairs. It’s as if the pressure to be happy creates the opposite.”
Calls to the Samaritans from people feeling depressed or suicidal always peak around Christmas time, meaning that at the same time as John Lewis etc. are stepping up their advertising campaigns in the run up to Christmas, so are The Samaritans.
