Church ad challenges supermarket take on Christmas

The first ever church-produced ad, designed to challenge this year’s clutch of Christmas supermarket ads, has been revealed on YouTube

The 'Christmas Starts with Christ' viral ad shows a typical Christmas scene – a modern couple sitting in their living room watching their newly-born baby in a cot – it’s their first Christmas as a family.

The fire is lit, the tree has presents under it and the background music is the The Power of Love. Slowly the family is pulled back to the very first Christmas. As the ad ends, the baby Jesus does something that has never been done before in any ad. He giggles.

Francis Goodwin, who heads up the Christmas Starts with Christ campaign, which is supported by Baptists Together, said, 'The supermarket viral ads, which were released last month, offered a ‘feel good’ take on Christmas designed to influence consumers into spending money with them.

'But they all avoided any reference to the religious meaning of the season. We thought it was time to produce the Christmas ad which the supermarkets are unable to make - one which shows where the feel good factor comes from. We are asking people to watch it, judge for themselves and share it with friends.'

Steve Clifford, general director of the Evangelical Alliance, said, 'There have been a variety of reactions to the supermarket Christmas ads this year.

'However, they all have one thing in common. Each ad is trying to claim they have the ‘magic’ of Christmas and that if you shop with them then you will experience it.

'But it is not celebrities singing about turkeys, nostalgic chocolate bars or happy penguins that lie at the heart of Christmas. What the supermarkets are unable to say is where the real ‘magic’ lies and where it comes from. The Christmas Starts with Christ ad takes the viewer to the moment where Christmas began. It is magical. Go and see it for yourself and if you like it - share it with friends.”

Visit https://www.youtube.com/user/christmasstarts

Related: Church Christmas campaign making its mark

Baptist Times, 11/12/2014

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