I am acutely aware that my blog risks going to dogs …. or dog to be precise. That dog is called Buster. You may have seen him on social media today. If you haven’t, I can only assume you live on the moon, in which case I expect you are acquainted with the star of last year’s John Lewis advert. Please give him my regards. Buster has required a lot of my attention lately, leaving very little time for gardening, writing or anything else for that matter. It’s probably why I have never seriously considered owning a pet.
Apart from Him Indoors being mildly enraged by the appearance of Otto and Olivia, the intrepid bouncing foxes (which must surely be related to our own destructive Mr Fox), the reaction to the advert has been incredibly positive. Personally I love it, but I adore Vaults’ interpretation of Randy Crawford’s ‘One Day I’ll Fly Away’ even more. Allegedly I was singing it rather loudly last night after a night on the town, only not quite as well as lead singer Blythe Pepino. One can’t be good at everything.
N.B. Should you not live in the UK, John Lewis is a department store famous for its emotionally engaging Christmas TV adverts. And it’s where I work. Apart from Buster, all the animals featured in the film are computer generated. It’s hard not to be in awe of the skill required to produce such realism. Please enjoy. Merry Christmas!
Categories: Musings, Uncategorized
Best ad ever!!!!! Bought a huge smile to my face and you deserve a night on the town to celebrate!!!! Luv luv luv Buster🐶👏👏👏👏👏👏
Thanks Helen! I have lived and breathed it in perfect silence for 8 months, so glad the ad is finally out there.
Love it Dan. Well done to everyone.
Mrs. P
An excellent work of art ! Too precious to not share! Love Buster.
Glad you enjoyed it. Made me smile 😆
The whole family here in Oz has been laughing until we cried. Brilliant advert. Thanks for sharing
Yeah, I saw it earlier today on another blog then on Facebook. It made me laugh but not as much as a certain April Fool’s video of flying penguins, some years back! 🙂
Alas, John Lewis didn’t see fit to plant some of their stores in Wales – or at least, not in my part of Wales. There was a store called Jones Brothers that was near where I grew up in London that was owned by them wayyyy back in the sixties. I was always rather fond of old J.L. Do all their employees still own shares or has it changed? I bought everything there at one time.
Hi Val. I have been at JL for 21 years. Jones Bros is not far from where we live – I think it closed in about 1991 along with some other smaller shops. The building is still there, with Waitrose in part of it. JL is still resolutely employee owned and going strong. We’ve reached Cardiff but don’t think any more shops are planned now.
Well, now, that’s an ad that won’t be overlooked or forgotten. What a hoot! Hope sales are great. 🙂
Well, they were yesterday, I can tell you. A lot more of the population have a Buster in their lives today 🙂
Computer generated bouncing foxes! That’s taken the shine off it for me – I hoped they might have been the real thing and we would learn how they were trained over the past 6 months.
Absolutely love the animals but have I missed a cat? Can always rely on JL for amazing Christmas ads. Well done Dan for keeping the secret every year!
It’s hard going I can tell you! And I get a lot of grief from Him Indoors for not spilling the beans before the big day. Cats next year maybe 😉
Yes please put in a word for cats for the next advert!! This year’s one is so good very clever indeed you are ovoulsy the man for keeping a secret!! Well done Dan!
Not normally, but I quite like my job and would like to keep it! Cats are long overdue a starring role in one of our Christmas adverts 🐱
The squirrels.. they’ll catch on to anything. Brilliant ad 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it! I lobbied for a red squirrel but was overruled.
Thanks for posting this It is much needed lightheartedness at an unamusing time here in the US. Our own Brexit, but I think much worse. It is interesting to an American, how popular home trampolines seem to be in the UK. My husband and I listen to Gardener’s Question Time on podcast and are struck by how often they are mentioned as part of garden plans. Though not unknown, they aren’t particularly common here. Hope you do great business with the ad!
P.S. Appropriate title! Feel like we are going to the dogs here.
Brilliant ad, Dan, a spot of much needed light relief this week.
That made me smile your singing. I absolutely love the advert – it makes me laugh every time. Love your garden and blog!!
Many thanks Sandra. I am still singing, and driving everyone around me crazy!