Is This New John Lewis Spot the Best Holiday Advert Ever?

The most adorable friendship - featuring Monty the Penguin (Photo: John Lewis via YouTube)
The most adorable friendship - featuring Monty the Penguin (Photo: John Lewis via YouTube)
Seeing as it’s only early November, it seems as though it should be premature to crown an ultimate winner in the race for this year’s best holiday ad, but it’s time for some real talk.

Literally nothing is going to be better than this completely adorable advert from British department store chain John Lewis. Nothing

Watch as young Sam and his BFF Monty the Penguin spend all their time together, doing fun kid-friendly activities like swimming in a lake, bedroom camping, puzzle assembly and sledding. They're adorable, their activities are adorable, it's all so much adorable - and all set to a particularly mournful cover of John Lennon’s “Real Love”. 

But then comes the part where you'll cry. 

Well, maybe not (if you're heartless, of course) but call it whatever you want, it’s probably going to get a bit dusty in whatever room you happen to be in when you watch this. Fair warning. 

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This is basically the Love, Actually of Christmas adverts: “To me, you are perfect.” Feel free to take a moment to really just roll all around in the holiday feels. 

And, if you really love Monty the Penguin, you can explore more of his life and world at the official John Lewis website, or through an interactive iPad app.  You can even buy your own stuffed Monty. Because, of course you can.

As for myself: I’m just going to watch this ad one more time. And not cry. Much. 


Lacy Baugher

Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB. 

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