Forget John Lewis. Forget the John Lewis parodies. Forget that Spanish one where the security guard wins the lottery. Forget that German one where the granddad fakes his own death to get his miserable, moneygrabbing kids together for a festive meal.
For this is the advert to rule Christmas. And it probably cost about fifty quid to make.
Home and general-bits-n-bobs store Robert Dyas has unveiled what is undoubtedly the strangest Christmas advert we've ever seen as a selection of its workers reveal their sexual orientation and hobbies before explaining how much they love showing customers their product range.
We think it's trying to get across that caring about someone's sexual orientation, or reducing them to stereotypes is completely irrelevant and unnecessary, but we're really not entirely sure.
And that's why it's brilliant.
Our favourite YouTube comment so far? This one:
Eagle-eyed viewers have pointed out the similarity of the advert to this one, by American furniture store Red House, back in 2009, which they said at the time they did because "discussing race in the US is taboo. It always makes people feel uncomfortable. We think it's a shame that someone saying "I'm white" or "I'm black" creates such a stir. There are real cultural identities within different people groups, and these things should be celebrated and embraced, not swept under the rug."
Perhaps Robert Dyas is aiming to do the same for sexual discrimination - who'd have thought they'd be leading the charge for sexual equality? They sell a good range of mops too, so there's something for everyone.
