Let Life Happen | John Lewis Advert

Let Life Happen…

The latest company to receive a backlash this month was John Lewis, but do you know the reason why? The retail giant released a home insurance advert on the 11th of October 2021 which caused quite the stir, but perhaps not for the reasons John Lewis had originally intended. The advert was released to showcase the home insurance policy that they offer to their customers. However, just 16 days after its debut, the company pulled the advert.

The Let Life Happen video features a young boy wearing a dress, jewellery and make-up, parading around his house and causing destruction. The camera follows the nine-year-old around the house as he smears paints on the walls and knocks things over. The whole routine is choreographed to the popular Stevie Nicks song, Edge of Seventeen. Negativity swamped the video (linked below) almost immediately. Viewers slammed the advert as misleading, arguing it falsely implied that John Lewis home insurance would cover children deliberately breaking or damaging household items.

Because of this evasive message, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) pulled the advert, labelling the content unclear and confusing to viewers. A spokesperson for the company said “Financial services firms’ marketing must be clear, fair and not misleading.” In a statement later released by John Lewis, they clarified that their insurance policy only covered accidental and not deliberate damage. They then went on to say “we have decided to contact every customer who purchased our New Home Contents Insurance Cover from 11 October to 31st October to confirm they understood these points and are happy with their purchase.”

And, as if that wasn’t enough criticism for the retail department store, the advert continued to cause an uproar. Some viewers deemed the video as sexist as it portrayed gender extremism. One Twitter user went as far as to say the 60-second advert “represented a terrifying snapshot of all that’s wrong with Britain right now.”

In response to this backlash, John Lewis expressed the meaning behind their concept. “The advert was created to show a joyful depiction of a young actor getting carried away with his performance, oblivious of the unintentional consequences of his actions.” In an interview with the Daily Mail, Sam Parker, the nine year old actor’s mother said she is disgusted by trolls who are claiming the advert is “sexualising” her son. “I am shocked it has caused so much controversy! It’s laughable, how can anyone be so upset and offended over something fun and innocent?”

Tiny Dancer vs Let Life Happen…

You may or may not remember that back in 2015, John Lewis actually released an advert with a similar concept to also promote their insurance policy. However, unlike this year’s advert, Tiny Dancer (linked below) didn’t receive anywhere near the same amount of criticism. Viewers raised no objections, and not a single critic suggested the advert “sexualised” the girl. So, why did the Let Life Happen video receive so much negativity?

The “Tiny Dancer” advert also follows a young child dancing through the house, oblivious as they trail a path of mess and destruction. The main difference between these two adverts is that one features a girl ballet dancing in a leotard to Elton John’s Tiny Dancer, whilst the other, features a boy wearing a dress and make-up doing pretty much the same thing…So, would it be fair to say that the Let Life Happen advert attracted so much more criticism because people are not comfortable with seeing a boy in a dress and make-up?

Our take

Here at DreamingFish, we found the advert visually compelling and culturally relevant. However, if the advert misrepresented the service offering, it should have never been aired in the first place. Both the agency and the client failed to implement the necessary checks to prevent this oversight. This raises a crucial question: would the advert have been pulled if complaints hadn’t been made about the creative execution? Or was it pulled soley for it’s false advertising? What is your take on “Let Life Happen”? Does the advert deserve the controversy, or did the reaction go too far?