• by Todd Wasserman , November 4, 2021

A young boy off by himself in the woods spies an alien, who looks to be a girl about his age who looks like a young Tilda Swinton. The boy, who had sneaked cookies out of his house as a gift, connects with the girl and gives her a Christmas tree. After the boy gives her an electronic gift, the girl kisses the boy before taking off in her spaceship.

That’s the plot of this year’s Christmas ad from U.K. retailer John Lewis and Adam&Eve/DDB.

As with other John Lewis ads, this one is scored to a rock song, "Together in Electric Dreams," the '80s hit by Giorgio Moroder and Phil Oakey sung by Lola Yong. 

John Lewis, which operates stores in the U.K. and Australia, first launched its Christmas ad in 2007. The annual ads have been highly lauded for their creativity and have become an anticipated event that helps kick off the holiday shopping season.

The difference this year is that the ad launched a week earlier than usual because of supply shortages that have prompted shoppers to get an early jump on their gift buying.