Christmas Ads Already?!?!?

It’s happened, Lord & Taylor kicked off the holiday season on Thursday with New York’s first Fifth Avenue department store window display. That makes it official, the festive season is upon us.

Many of you may have already noticed that your local Target couldn’t replace Halloween with Christmas soon enough. And the first big Christmas ads have already hit the airwaves and taken the internet by storm. Below is the infamous John Lewis ad that everyone waits for each year. This year’s ad didn’t disappoint, with a fun-loving animal theme to make everyone jolly.

While John Lewis has always been known for its Christmas advert, this year another big name has taken the Christmas crown when it comes to advertising. Marks & Spencer released its holiday ad just a few days after John Lewis, and the Internet world has gone crazy for it. Some have hailed it “the best” of the year and the season is just getting started. Take a look and you be the judge.

While both these ads offer great pieces of marketing genesis…they still beg the question, is it too early for retailers to be pumping out the Christmas ads? In my personal opinion, yes… but shoppers don’t seem to mind. According to Shoppercentric.com, one third of Christmas shoppers said they started looking for gifts in September. That number climbs to 37% for shoppers between 18 to 34 years old.

So there appears to be good reason for retailers to start the Christmas creep, even though we’re still well over a month away. What are your thoughts? When is Christmas advertising too early?