Upscale Department Store Suggests Spending All Your Christmas Money On Yourself And Giving Your Family Toothpicks
Ever gotten the urge to spend all your Christmas shopping money on yourself? This year, the high-end British department store Harvey Nichols is suggesting their customers do just that with a campaign themed, "Sorry, I Spent It On Myself."
In the ad, which is tongue-in-cheek, loved ones gather on Christmas morning to exchange gifts. In the first scene, a delighted father soon becomes confused and disappointed as he reads the label of his new elastic band set. His daughter enthusiastically explains that she bought it at Harvey Nichols as the camera turns to her Louboutin pumps, which cost her several hundred pounds.
Here's the ad, featuring a self-indulgent grandson, girlfriend, and even parents of a young child:
The terrible gifts aren't just props - shoppers in the United Kingdom can actually buy them Harvey Nick's stores. When they went on sale online on Nov. 27, they sold out within a couple of hours.
HN paired meaningless, cheap gifts with luxury items, like this bag of rocks and a designer watch:
Harvey Nichols
Shoppers could get other pretentiously named rubbish like a "non-Swiss pen" and a "real plastic door stop."
London agency adam&eveDDB created the campaign, including all of the "Sorry" gifts for sale.
"The brief was to get Harvey Nichols talked about - but with only a fraction of the budget major U.K. retail chains have to spend for Christmas we knew we needed to go further than just another 30-second ad," creative director Daniel Fisher told Fast Company.
Harvey Nichols has played with upscale shopper stereotypes before during the highly competitive British Christmas ad season.
The Christmas commercial from two years ago became controversial for contrasting lower-class women with elegant Harvey Nichols shoppers - despite the fact they were all walking home the morning after a one-night stand.
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