Christmas celebrations. Picture: JAGADEESH NV / EPA
Picture: JAGADEESH NV / EPA

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WHEN I was growing up in Durban, the arrival of Christmas was signalled by a visit to West Street in the heart of town to see the lights, lying on the couch during the holidays and watching Disney Christmas movies every day, bringing out our school’s hymn book to sing carols, and of course, hearing Wham’s "Last Christmas" on cue every year.

As a Hindu child, Christmas time gave me Christian envy — it was romantic, mesmerising and magical. Now, as an adult, Christmas is signalled by advertising campaign briefs that arrive in July, an onslaught of serial commercialism, mall décor from as early as October, overflowing parking lots with cranky people, and red and gold biscuit tins and mince pies from Woolies.

I think South African Christmas advertising is lousy. It’s heavily promotion-driven, generic and overly clichéd.

We’re so sensitive about excluding parts of our communities that we’re not even allowed to call it Christmas. Words such as "festive" are big but not words like "Christmas" and "merry". And since MTN did it many years ago, practically every brand wants to "own" summer. Yawn.

The UK gets Christmas advertising right. Every year, I look forward to commercials from big retail stores such as Sainsbury’s, John Lewis and Harvey Nichols.

I tune in to YouTube for a fix of some of the most charming and endearing Christmas stories in the shape of 60-to 180-second commercials. This year, my favourite Christmas advert comes from department store John Lewis. It features a little girl, obsessed with the man on the moon.

The commercial dramatises the man on the moon as a sad-looking old man who lives in a tiny home in a crater. The girl spies on him through her telescope all through the year. She tries to get his attention and even sends him letters and paper jets from her bedroom window.

Eventually, at Christmas time, a gift attached to a bunch of balloons floats onto the moon and drops at his feet. The man is revived by a child-like glee. The gift is a telescope that allows him to spy on Earth and as he does so, he spots the little girl who waves at him.

It is beautiful — tear-spouting stuff. And its message is special — it reminds us not to neglect lonely people over Christmas.

The reason the UK gets Christmas advertising right is that it embraces it for what it is instead of trying to turn it into something all-encompassing and generic. The commercials use storytelling reminiscent of old-school Disney movies or quirky Hollywood-like comedies. They set the mood perfectly and don’t try to sell you a festive DVD player or a burger meal for four. Instead, they sell you the feeling and spirit of Christmas — the Christmas that we knew as children.

Last year, Sainsbury’s gave us a Christmas commercial based on a true story of British and German troops who laid down their weapons for a moment to engage and play a friendly game of football. The commercial had more than 17-million views on YouTube.

This year, they’ve brought us a story of Mog, the cat that ruined and saved Christmas at the same time.

It already has more than 15-million views.

SA isn’t the UK. We don’t have a snow-laden Christmas; we’re not big on eggnog and knitted jerseys or singing carols from door to door. But we are big on humaneness and the spirit of kindness and sharing.

So, I wish brands would embrace this a little more instead of pushing sales of Turducken, Black & Decker tools and cellphone packages. I wish we made Christmas commercials that didn’t mind being sentimental, that allowed us to be thrown into fantasy for a brief sojourn, that inspired us to spread some joy.

And that would perhaps give a Hindu girl somewhere in Mzansi a bit of Christian envy all over again.

• Gordhan is a creative director in advertising