First 2023 Christmas ad

The video above is the first Christmas TV ad that I’ve seen this year. I often tune out during ads, and I almost didn’t realise it was a Christmas ad until late in the ad. The video above was uploaded to YouTube yesterday.

I wouldn’t normally share the video of one individual ad because such videos are often deleted. That’s why I create an annual YouTube playlist for Christmas TV ads, something I started in 2021. In fact, I’ve already created the ”2023 New Zealand Christmas TV Ads” playlist—though this is the only ad in it at the moment.

I wanted to note this particular ad because I was surprised that Christmas TV ads were starting before Halloween. I’ve noted before how New Zealand retailers have no real thing to pin the start of their Christmas shopping promotions on—there’s nothing like the USA’s Thanksgiving, for example. But starting too early risks causing fatigue among viewers—maybe?

At any rate, this was unusual enough that I had to note it, especially for future reference. This is precisely the sort of thing I was talking about a week ago, when I said “I need to write down anything I want to have a hope of remembering”, even something as unimportant as the earliest start to Christmas TV ads. I think that it’s about time this blog started to earn its keep.