Santa is a Geordie, apparently.
There was quite rightly a lot of buzz around this year's John Lewis Christmas ad. The retailer's annual festive commercial is always keenly anticipated, but after last year's underwhelming 'man on the moon' effort, everyone was keen to see whether JL could follow it up with a return to form.
Much to everyone's relief, 2016's trampolining dog vintage was a universal success. In fact, the only issue that some festive scrooges had with the ad was the timing. Many feel that the beginning of November is far too early to be thinking about Crimbo - a full 7 weeks before Jesus' purported birthday.
Iceland sought to factor that sentiment into their own campaign by waiting until December to launch the somewhat more low-key affair. That said, it has become a bit of a word-of-mouth success amongst viewers, mainly because of the surprising casting of their Santa Claus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAURvUoXQ8Y
They decided to plump for a Geordie Father Christmas - and doting wife - as the stars of their ad, and people seem to love his dulcet Tyneside tones and down-to-earth persona. Indeed various polls show the Newcastle accent to be the most trustworthy and popular in the country.
This lot certainly approve of Iceland's Geordie Santa - even if he is wearing Sunderland red and white...
https://twitter.com/ptapom/status/806914697467490304
https://twitter.com/bevnorthchocs/status/806038780985614337
https://twitter.com/laurenjgxx/status/807355730902786048
https://twitter.com/_ABBIECAMPBELL9/status/806259083829506052
https://twitter.com/Cheshire_Ella/status/807359701507837956
https://twitter.com/laura25_star/status/807345370497945600
https://twitter.com/EloquentParrot/status/806095435995738112
