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Sainsbury’s Mog’s Christmas Calamity (2015)

Section A - Genre
Christmas adverts typically explore the themes of sympathy, nostalgia and the sharing in order to
position audiences to view their brand positively in a time of great consumer spending for family and
friends. The theme of togetherness runs throughout Christmas adverts with music that is typically
happy and joyful. They also typically present family environments and iconography typical to the
holiday to make their advertisements more relatable.

High production values are common in Christmas adverts as many people have more disposable
income around the festive period and therefore advertisers aim to make the product more appealing
to this audience. Typically Christmas adverts therefore use multiple mediums, such as animation, to
appeal to a wider target audience in the festive season.

Mog is typical of Christmas adverts in many of these senses. With high production value, themes of
family, community and togetherness, and a clear resolution – completing a full cycle of Todorov’s
narrative theory – Mog creates a charming and heart-warming advert to appeal to a traditional
Christmas audience. Christmas iconography is evident throughout the advert including snow, cards,
robins, and Christmas decorations.

Section A – Narrative
In the advert, the comical accident-prone cat causes chaos around the house on Christmas Eve by
wrecking Christmas dinner and setting fire to the family home. Luckily she dials 999 and ends up
saving the day. Their community comes over to their home for Christmas, bringing food and helping
them enjoy their Christmas despite the wreckage. This narrative plays on the togetherness and
wartime spirit stereotypical of the British.

COMEDY

Humour is used throughout this advert as a persuasive tool and a key comical element to the
light-hearted mood of the advert, as typical of the Christmas genre. When Mog gets caught in the

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Christmas lights and falls out of the cat flap the lights literally guide the firemen to the site of the
fire. The convenience of this event is comical as this would be unlikely to happen in real life.

Additionally, the phrase such as “follow that cat”, shown through a CU from outside the fire truck,
adds humour due to the juxtaposition between the seriousness that the audience expects from the
fireman and the amusing comment that he makes. The use of fireman appeals to Jib Fowles basic
appeal of physiological safety needs due to their authority and representation as a figure of safety.
However, the comedy goes against this safety, subverting the typical seriousness of them as figures
of authority.

Physical humour within the advert is shown through Mog’s destruction of the family home. One
example of this is a close-up of Mog hanging on to a spinning ceiling fan, a long-shot showing her
spinning and being flung across the room as a result. This use of physical comedy creates
entertainment for the viewer, particularly younger audiences, as Mog’s fearful facial expressions and
the lack of pain as a result of this comedy allow the audience to laugh at her actions. Comedy is used
throughout the advert to maintain the light-mood and message Sainsbury’s is creating in their
preferred reading, as conventional of Christmas adverts.

Section A - Representation
As a safe and relatable family environment is central to Christmas adverts, stereotypical characters
are typical of Christmas advertisements in order to avoid controversy.

MOG

Mog’s character is designed to create comedy and entertainment for the viewer. As in each of Kerr’s
books Mog gets into a different conundrum with a new character or event, making Mog’s troublesome
representation in this advert is stereotypical of her character and appeals to the audience's need to
nurture. Her typically concerned facial expressions throughout the advert add to audience sympathy
and comedy. For example, while hanging onto the grandfather clock, a CU shot of Mog’s fearful facial

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expression and direct gaze with the viewer creates audience sympathy for her as she struggles in the
dangerous situation she has accidently found herself in.

Robins are visualised as a binary opposite to Mog within the advert, presenting them as monstrous
and scary and Mog as scared and bewildered by her nightmare. When the robins are introduced they
are shown to be screeching, a typical convention of evil characters and are given scary features, such
as the emphasis of their teeth and their desire to hurt Mog. These elements present them as negative
and evil, while the fearful Mog is presented as fearful and innocent. This use of binary opposition
places Mog as the hero within the narrative and therefore the audience is positioned to side with her.
The inclusion of the robins as an evil creature establishes our sympathy with Mog, creating a sense of
unity with Mog, therefore making the audience feel sorry for her character having a nightmare and
establishing the desire to nurture her throughout the advert.

GENDER

The majority of gender representations in this advert are stereotypical. This is particularly obvious in
a mid-shot of Mr and Mrs Thomas sleeping, in which CGI bubbles show scenes from their dreams
playing out above their heads.

“Mr Thomas was dreaming of a new bat; Mrs Thomas was dreaming of… something else.”

Mr Thomas dreams of sports, a typically masculine pursuit, while Mrs Thomas dreams about romance
with “Captain Thomas”, an enhanced version of her husband in a romantic fairytale style dream.
Throughout the advert these stereotypical and familial roles are reinforced by the actions of the
pair. For example, when the family enter their burned down house, a close-up focuses on the couple
as Mr Thomas holds back tears and Mrs Thomas expresses her sadness plainly in her face, leaning into
Mr Thomas for support. Her facial expressions are open and devastated, unlike Mr Thomas who puts
his arm over his wife’s shoulder, supporting her and holding back his tears as stereotypical of a man.

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His orange scarf links him to the Sainsbury's brand, connoting that Sainsbury’s supports British
families and communities.

In contrast, Debbie subverts typical gender stereotypes by dreaming of science for Christmas.
Similarly, her room, shared with her brother, is blue and white, while her bed covers are yellow,
giving her the impression of gender neutrality.

Furthermore, actions throughout the advert present stereotypical gender roles. For example, the fire
officers are both male, a job which is traditionally male oriented, and when the community offer to
assist the family, they carry stereotypical objects: the main man carrying tools and the women
carrying a duster and a mop. Furthermore, all the heavy lifting of the advert, e.g. the grandfather
clock, the second Christmas tree, and even the cutting of the turkey, is all done by men as male
stereotypical tradition dictates.

AGE

Togetherness is a key theme of this advert and is most commonly seen in relationships between
young and old characters. Debbie and Nicky Thomas, the youngest main characters of this advert,
quite literally look up to the adults around them. When faced with the wreckage of their house,
Nicky looks to the fireman and his parents for answers. In a close-up shot of the children looking at
the wreckage of their home, Nicky turns and looks up to his parents. The light that shines on his face
in this moment emphasises his innocence. Throughout the advert the main influence and narrative
strength comes from middle-aged characters. However, in the final close-up of Mog curled up on the
carpet, it can not be understated that Mog is given an egg by a young girl. The age of this unknown
character is reminiscent of Mog’s main audience appeal as both an animated character and a
character from a children’s book.

Conversely, some youth in this advert is emphasised for comic means. When the firemen arrive, it is
the older fireman who acts as the boss of the younger fireman, commanding that they “follow that
cat!”. Later on in the advert a long-shot focuses on the younger fireman as he uses his fire

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extinguisher on a burnt turkey. Comical music plays over this, enhancing the amusement this gives
the audience and keeping the advert light-hearted in tone. Close-up shots between the older and
younger fireman shows the dominance of the older fireman, who presses for his professionalism
through an unimpressed facial expression. The following close-up of the younger fireman shows him
finally paying attention to the Thomas’, who would have seen this moment as inappropriate
considering the situation. Older generations are therefore shown to guide younger generations
throughout this advert.

COMMUNITY
“Everyone else thought if the Thomas’ and Mog can’t have a Christmas: they can share ours.”

Community spirit is prevalent throughout this advert and links to the Christmas genre, appealing to
an audience’s need for affiliation and presentations of successful on-screen relationships. Soon after
the fire service arrived, a long-shot shows their next door neighbours standing outside their driveway
in concern. In fact, the “the neighbours gathered” around the Thomas home and listened to the
fireman as he explained how Mog saved it. The mid-shot of the Thomas’ children listening to the
fireman shows this as blurry people stand in the foreground of the shot, overlooking the family.

Furthemore, late in the advert the community spirit is clear and important to Sainsbury’s narrative.
A mid-shot focuses on the doorway of the house with the neighbours offering the Thomas’ support so
that they can have a Christmas after all.The following mid-shot shows the community working in the
Thomas’ house and pans from one side of the living room to the other to impress and evoke emotion
from the viewer. Similarly, a long-shot of inside the Thomas’ house celebrating Christmas zooms out
from the overjoyed expressions of Mr Thomas, emphasising the magnitude of this event to him and
his family is accompanied by emotive music and designed to emotionally impact the viewer.

Section B – Industry
Sainsbury’s said it was their “most successful Christmas advert ever” despite losing sales to smaller
supermarkets. Following the controversy surrounding their previous Christmas advert, focusing on
soldiers in the First World War and celebrating their brand being around for so long, this advert was
designed to be inoffensive and appeal to all. In both adverts however Sainsbury’s joined together
with charities to establish themselves as a giving and caring British brand.

Sainsbury’s partnered up with HarperCollins children’s books, who were the publishers of the Mog
collection, starting with ‘Mog the Forgetful Cat’ in 1970, and Judith Kerr OBE, the author of said

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books, to create a special story starring Mog the cat. It was to raise money for Save the Children and
improve child literacy in the UK.

AMV BBDO worked with director James Rouse and Framestore, of ‘Paddington’ fame, to bring Mog
and her world to life in her first-ever animated foray. Oscar-winning Rachel Portman composed the
original score that underpins the spectacular.

The advert was debuted across 50 channels, such as ITV, Channel 4 and 5 and Sky, simultaneously
(known as “road blocking”) at 7:15pm on November 12th 2015

Sainsbury’s also released a series of behind the scenes videos which acted as extra advertising. This
appeals to the need to be informed as the creation of Mog using CGI and the author’s reactions to the
advert give the audience extra information, making them feel included within the advert as they
know more detail about it.

BRAND/ PRODUCT PLACEMENT

Throughout the advert Sainsbury’s specifically linked themselves to the message of the advert
through the use of colour. The Thomas house, the main setting of the advert, has a mostly orange
colour scheme, particularly in the kitchen. Similarly, at the beginning of the advert Mr Thomas wears
a dressing gown with an orange inside which is turned out. This dress code links his support of his
family and his stability to the brand. Additionally, when the community arrive to assist the Thomas’
there are many signs of orange, connoting that community support is part of the Sainsbury’s brand.
When the neighbours appear in the Thomas house and offer to help them, the main few have
somewhat orange dress codes and a bag of orange tools. This continues as when the neighbours bring
food over: a long-shot of the Thomas house begins with a bunch oranges in the foreground carried
away by a young girl. This shot comes at the second part of the sentence: “Everyone else thought if
the Thomas’ and Mog can’t have a Christmas: they can share ours”, thereby linking the Sainsbury’s
brand to security, support and community spirit.

At the end of the advert Mog is shown to be purring up towards the Sainsbury’s logo. This mid shot
connotes Mog’s approval of Sainsbury’s and links her happiness and security with the brand. This
creates a preferred reading of the brand as a supportive British brand that offers the average British
families security and happiness during the festive period, appealing to the audience’s need for
safety. By using the main character within the advert to support this view, this encourages the
audience to agree with Mog, with whom they have developed a relationship with in the duration of
the advert.

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Section B – Audience
This small twist of Mog’s nightmare makes the advert engaging for the audience as it is a variation of
typical iconography, making the brand appear unique and stand out from the other supermarket
adverts.

Audience appeal

Appeals Examples

British Mog appeals to British audiences through the use of a British writer and illustrator’s character
(Mog, Judith Kerr). British iconography appears throughout the advert (e g. Mog dills 999, as
emphasised by a close-up of the numbers, a number linked only to the British emergency
services) to emphasise the British origins of the Sainsbury’s brand, as also emphasised by their
2014 Christmas ad, which focused on the experience of British soldier Jim in the WW1 trenches.

Age One way that Mog appeals to a young demographic is through the use of Mog herself. As an
animated character the use of CGI links to cartoons/shows that they may watch as well as the
fact that she is a cat appeals to them as they could see her as a pet. Similarly, Mog’s chaos
appeals to children as it adds humour and comedy to the character which they will find funny
and therefore Sainsbury’s use the humour to distract the children from the serious message
that the adults would understand.
On the other hand, MCC appeals to an older, adult demographic through the appeal of
nostalgia. Mog’s character was created in the 1970s through a series of books which the
parent/adult audience may have read when they were younger. Thus the use of her character
will engage the older demographic through nostalgic appeal.

Gender Sainsbury’s presents a stereotypical depiction of gender in their Mog advert. This is explored in
the dreams of Mr and Mrs Thomas, exposing his stereotypically male love of sport, and her
stereotypically female desire for romance. Throughout the advert they act as typical of their
parental roles. In contrast, their daughter Debbie subverts typical gender roles by dreaming
about science. This is to avoid controversy with Sainsbury’s audience and to ensure that despite
a mostly stereotypical representation of gender, there is some evidence of subversion so that
all audiences can relate in some degree to this stereotypical British family.

Mainstream This advert appeals to a mainstream audience through uncontroversial and stereotypical
means. As typical of the Christmas genre, presenting a narrative focuses solely on togetherness
and relationships, this advert appeals to an audience’s need for successful relationships and
affiliation. Furthermore, this adver presents stereotypical gender roles on-screen, this advert
appeals to a mainstream audience by not challenging social convention and remaining within
the boundaries created by its industry. Furthermore, despite some subversions, Sainsbury’s
presents a fairly stereotypical community coming together in a time of adversity against a
harsh situation so audiences can identify with the relationships presented on-screen.

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Star Personas
The story was narrated by Emma Thompson, an actress who is known for children’s films such as
Harry Potter and Nanny McPhee, therefore linking this well-known figure to the advert subtly and
using her as product endorsement.

Mog, herself, could be called a star persona due to the fact that the stories are about the popular
character. She would also be recognisable to an older audience, therefore appealing to them in the
advert. The advert was created based on books written by Judith Kerr OBE, who also appeared in the
advert alongside Mog.

Intertextuality
There are references to the original Mog throughout this advert. The characters’ names are the same
as from the book, and at the closing of the advert the dialogue “I think she’d rather have an egg”
links to the preferences of Mog in the Kerr books. This shows that even though Mog is aimed at a
younger audience, due to the animation and cartoon links, an older audience, such as their parents,
will have a nostalgic view as they may have read the books when they were younger. Thus allows the
advert to appeal to a wide audience due to the nostalgic links and Mog’s comical humour.

Success
By the end of September 2015, according to YouGov BrandIndex data, ad awareness of Mog (whether
a respondent has seen an advert for a brand in the past two weeks) Sainsbury’s has equalled that of
John Lewis, with the score rising 18% since the campaign was launched. Sainsbury’s purchase
consideration score (whether a respondent would consider buying a product from a brand) was at its
highest point for 6 months.

Mog merchandise was exclusively sold at Sainsbury’s with books costing £3 and toys originally being
priced at £10. The profit from the books went to Save the Children, which raised £1.5 million for the
charity, whilst the toy profit went to Sainsbury’s. They did receive backlash from parents after the
toys ran out just 10 days after the advert first aired. To this, bosses said that they had a ‘limited
supply’ and that stores would not receive any more of the merchandise. The toys could be found on
selling sites, such as eBay, for as much as £90.

The advert received over 18 million YouTube views in two weeks, emphasising the popularity of the
advert as well as the importance of opinion leaders to the campaign.

Failure
The majority of tweets posted about Mog’s Christmas Calamity were sent within the first hour of the
ad being broadcast at 7:15pm. There were 2,214 tweets mentioning the ad, compared to 22,429
tweets about the John Lewis advert. This could be as a result of opinion leaders and the anticipation
and suspense that was built around the John Lewis advert because of the success of the previous
years.

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