The festive ad for M&S Clothing and Home, named Love Thismas (Not Thatmas), calls on the nation to spend Christmas how they want to, not how they feel they ought to.

Created by Mother, the ad features stars including stylist and presenter Tan France, actor Zawe Ashton, and singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor, as they do away with the unnecessary rituals and routines that people feel obliged to do at Christmas – from creating hand-made decorations to wading through a stack of greetings cards.

The ad is set to a cover of Meatloaf classic I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That), offering a pretty literal interpretation of the lyrics, and is directed by Ally Pankiw, whose credits include an episode of the latest season of Black Mirror and the entire first season of Mae Martin’s Feel Good.

“Before we created Love Thismas (Not Thatmas), we spoke to hundreds of our customers and they all told us that, at Christmas, they feel this pressure of having to worry about and plan so many things,” says M&S Clothing & Home marketing director, Anna Braithwaite. “We know it can often feel like the list is never-ending so this year we decided to celebrate and empower our customers to just do the things they love.”

Credits:
Agency (Strategy and Creative): Mother
Director: Ally Pankiw
Production Company: Partizan London
Music Supervisor: The Hogan