BBC London interviews Carl Jones on the relationship between advertising and Christmas

On Dec 23^rd BBC Radio’s Jeanette Kwakye quizzed CAMRI scholar and Snr. Lecturer of PR & Advertising Carl W. Jones, by asking “How does advertising shape Christmas?”

Jones responded by noting that “Christmas has been evolving from being a Christian holiday to one that consumers from any religion can participate in by giving gifts. In the middle of the last century UK advertising presented only white families sat next to a Christmas tree, and now in ads we see people from many different backgrounds and ethnicities”.

Topics discussed through the fast-moving interview included: a brief history of branded Christmas messaging, John Lewis advertising, and how different countries celebrate the season through TV ads.

Carl concluded that “television is still king for Christmas advertising even though new technologies are competing for media investment. Consumers need to think of  TV as not only the large screen in the living room that mum and dad watch. TV is also looked at by many young people on portable electronic devices such as tablets or mobile phones. While many young people don’t consider seeing a program such as Love Island on a portable device to be ‘watching TV,’ in reality it is. And that is why advertisers place such importance on the ‘moving image’ and ‘content creation’ in general.”

The radio interview was on Dec 23 2021 at 2:00pm and is available for a limited time on BBC Sounds, here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0b62yml and it starts at minute 13 approx.

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash