Golden quarter week seven: UK retailers’ Christmas adverts 2025
17 November 2025See how the UK’s retailers are advertising their Christmas ranges in 2025 and how they have navigated the restrictions established by the new HFSS regulations.
As the UK’s retailers launch their Christmas adverts, we look at each in turn to see how they have navigated the restrictions established by the new HFSS regulations.
Common themes
Unsurprisingly, given the restrictions on what can be advertised before 21:00, most adverts either do not feature food at all, or do so only briefly. Where food and drink do appear, the focus tends to be on turkeys and on ‘party food’, with the latter exempt from the restrictions.
Where the appearance of food and drink is limited, adverts tend to focus on the spirit of Christmas.
Aldi: Kevin the Carrot's stag do has gone pear-shaped!
Aldi’s advert focuses on the adventures of Kevin the Carrot, who is stranded at the North Pole on his stag do. Rescued by The Christmas Express, the advert ends on a cliffhanger with Kevin’s bride waiting for him at the end of an aisle made up of Christmas dinner staples.
Christmas food and drink have a limited presence in the advert, although the cliffhanger ending promising the tale is ‘to be continued…’ suggests we might have a more food-focused advert closer to Christmas itself.
Asda: A Very Merry Grinchmas
Asda takes a musical approach to its offering, featuring a singing and dancing Grinch. Instead of focusing on its food and drink line-up, the advert highlights the lower prices available at Asda through its Rollback scheme. The lower prices are so effective, the Grinch ends up enjoying hosting Christmas dinner.
Boots: #GiftHappilyEverAfter
Boots’ advert follows the adventure of Puss in Boots as he searches for gifts to help his fairytale friends get ready for the Snow Queen’s Ball. His search takes him to Boots, where he is assisted by a member of staff in choosing the perfect gifts.
John Lewis: Where Love Lives
John Lewis takes a nostalgic trip back to 90’s dance culture as a father and son bond over a shared love of music. The advert aims to inspire shoppers to choose the retailer as the place to find the gifts that really matter.
Lidl: More to Value this Christmas
Building on its recently launched global brand campaign “More to Value”, Lidl’s advert sees a young girl thinking about the true meaning of Christmas as scenes play out of fancy dress, family reunions, spending time with friends, thinking of others and good food.
Food and drink once again have a limited presence, with fruit getting equal footing with the roast turkey.
M&S Food: Traffic Jamming
Dawn French and her Christmas fairy alter-ego return for M&S’s advert. Stuck in a Christmas traffic jam, French spots an M&S lorry packed full of Christmas food. The advert stands out from competitors for the prominent placement of food, calling out specific canapé ranges.
Morrisons: A Year in the Making
Morrisons is another retailer choosing not to feature food and drink. Instead, the focus is on the year-round effort of its food suppliers to produce the food and drink that make Christmas special.
Sainsbury’s: The Unexpected Guest
The most traditional of the leading retailers’ Christmas offerings, Sainsbury’s advert focuses on the effort by a Sainsbury’s delivery driver and the BFG to save Christmas from a hungry giant. The advert features close-ups of Sainsbury’s Christmas range and a food delivery full of Taste the Difference products.
Tesco: That’s What Makes It Christmas
Instead of a single advert, Tesco has opted for a range of 11 adverts playfully depicting familiar Christmas scenes from lifelong sibling rivalries, awkward encounters with neighbours, elderly relatives saying something controversial, and work colleagues pondering secret Santa gifts. Food and drink do appear in the adverts, but take a back seat to the scenes being played out.
Waitrose: The Perfect Gift
Building on its theme as the ‘Home of Food Lovers’, Waitrose has produced a four-minute romcom featuring Keira Knightley as herself and Joe Wilkinson, who appears as Phil, returning to the character he played in the retailer’s 2024 advert. The advert culminates with Wilkinson winning Knightley’s heart by baking a pie using her grandmother’s recipe.
Waitrose has backed the campaign with trailers, posters, and social media posts. A separate version of the advert featuring Waitrose No. 1 Golden Mince Pies with Limoncello will show after 21:00 due to the new HFSS advertising regulations.
A Christmas cracker?
While John Lewis has taken the plaudits for another tear-jerking entry to its catalogue of Christmas hits, only time will tell if this year’s adverts, mostly putting food and drink to the back of the frame, will have a meaningful impact on sales.
Far more likely is the continuation of this year’s well-established trends: with Ocado, Lidl, M&S, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s all performing well ahead of the wider market.