What the Boots Christmas advert backlash is really about

Christmas television adverts are meant to be comforting, homely, and traditional. While some find these offerings, especially John Lewis’s, overly twee and sentimental, most would agree that festive adverts should be kept clear of politics – overt or otherwise.

This unspoken consensus, however, appears to have been lost on those behind the new Boots Christmas TV commercial, an advert stamped with hallmarks of the hyper-liberal politics that, all year round, bring so little joy and cheer to the nation.

The advert stars Adjoa Andoh, the actress best known for describing the King’s Coronation as ‘terribly white’, in the role of Mrs Claus, tending to her fat, lazy, white husband while referring to one present for ‘Robin’ as ‘very them’ – rather than ‘very her’ or ‘very him’. Unsurprisingly, it has sparked a backlash online, with ‘boycott Boots’ trending on X (formerly Twitter). In predictable fashion, some have already dismissed the response as a cry from ‘far-right bigots’ (Pink News) or evidence of a nostalgic, racist desire to return to the 1950s (Independent).