Two charities will benefit from Christmas jumper sales at John Lewis & Partners as part of the retailer’s new 2021 festive advertising campaign.
In a release published today, the retailer described its two minute advert, called Unexpected Guest, as “a joyful story of friendship, which celebrates the magic of Christmas moments experienced for the first time”.
This year’s advert follows the story of Nathan, a 14-year-old boy who encounters a similarly aged space traveller called Skye and her ship from another galaxy.
The pair become friends but before long Skye fixes her ship and must return home, prompting Nathan to give her his Christmas jumper.
The retailer has pledged to donate 10 per cent of the profits for each jumper sold equally to partner charities FareShare and Home-Start UK.
The retailer could not say how much the jumper sales were likely to raise but it said its Give a Little Love campaign, which it launched in partnership with both charities last year, had raised £5m for charity so far.
Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of FareShare, said: “The winter months can be so tough for families struggling to make ends meet – with the pandemic, rising living costs and Christmas coming up, many people will need to face the difficult choice between keeping warm or putting food on the table.
“We’re delighted that 10 per cent of all profits from sales of the Christmas jumper featured in the advert will be donated to FareShare and Home-Start so that we can continue supporting people in need this winter.”
Vivien Waterfield, deputy chief executive of Home-Start UK, said the Give A Little Love campaign had made an enormous positive impact for families in 2020 and would continue to do so.