As we approach Christmas the TV and Radio are awash with adverts pertaining to the festive season. Everyone has their moment which announces the commencement of Christmas, be it “Black Friday”, 1st Dec or 8th Dec, Fairy-tale of New York etc. For me its hearing that iconic Barrys Tea radio advert about the train set, the narrative in that advert brings back special memories of Christmas.
Most retailers have rolled out their Christmas advertising campaign with M&S, Dunnes, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Supervalu all showing their range of festive party food and all very tempting indeed. I must say I think the current John Lewis “Man on the Moon” advert is very interesting. I’m not familiar with John Lewis the company and ordinarily I try avoid supporting international retailers however credit where credit is due, this is superb, extremely thought provoking, and with little or no commercial content, it draws attention to the significant social issue of loneliness and isolation.
There has long been debate that society has abandoned the Christian or religious aspect of Christmas as we have all become servants to the commercial interests of retailers. An argument which I believe is very much the case. Therefore when a retailer spends circa €10m in a Christmas advertising campaign to promote something other than their own commercial interests it must be applauded. Loneliness and isolation are serious issues at any stage of the year and especially so at Christmas as it becomes even more pronounced. This powerful reminder of this serious social issue in the Man on the Moon advert is most timely and welcome.
Like most in business I find myself very busy this past while, trying to get various matters closed out before year end. As always you set your goals, prioritise and try execute as much as you can. I have a “to do list” which reflects both business and personal matters that I’m seeking to conclude before the holidays and included in that list for good measure to reflect the time of year there’s a minor religious “to do” as well. I’m sure everyone else has a list broadly along the same lines; finish this and that in work, set goals for 2016, organise to meet some old friends over Christmas, buy my wifes present (double whammy for me as her birthday is Christmas week as well), get a haircut, get the car serviced, go to confession (won’t take long for me of course!) and definitely make midnight mass this year. That’s pretty much it and while everyone’s to do list will be different, in many respects it will most likely be broadly 90% commercial and 10% religious which reflects societies approach to Christmas.
This observation aligned with my admiration of the Man on the Moon advert put me in a pensive mood and I started to think about it. I had a chat with myself, a look at the “man in the mirror” so to speak and asked myself what one non-commercial, non-personal thing can I do to make me feel better about myself, perhaps enrich me but more importantly make someone else much happier? So I’ve decided to do something.
A wise man once told me “you don’t find time you make it, there are 8,760 hours in a year” he said “surely I’ll find 1 of them when duty calls for a friend”. He made that comment some 20 years ago when, though conscious of the fact that he was a very busy man I apologetically asked him to do me a small favour. Needless to say he delivered. That same wise man, a retired engineer and client of mine, lost his wife a few months back, she passed away after a short illness. He has two adult kids who are both abroad so he lives alone. I thought to myself he’s probably at a low ebb right now so I called him and invited him to lunch next week.
The call itself cheered him up no end and certainly has made me feel a lot better about myself. I’m really looking forward to our lunch and I know he is as well. I’ll remind him of his comments of 20 years ago and how the wheel has come full circle. It’s ironic that such an insignificant piece of my time can mean so much to someone else and the joy which my lunch invite is bringing to him now means so much to me. It’s neither a religious nor commercial event but nonetheless it captures the real essence of Christmas. I’d encourage everyone to seek and experience a “Man on the Moon” moment this coming week and in doing so say a quiet thank you to John Lewis for reminding you of the important things in your busy life.
