M&S Casts James Norton as a Topless Santa Against John Lewis

Marks & Spencer has launched a Christmas ad with a Santa in a towel, and it is already being compared with John Lewis's. The campaign stars James Norton and Lucy Punch as a young Mr and Mrs Claus, and clips of Norton topless have gone viral.

Two ads, two moods

John Lewis has long held the Christmas ad moment, with ballads and tearjerker plots. This year its ad features Kristin Scott Thomas as a glamorous granny hoping to turn one room of her large townhouse into a gran cave. When it launched this week, critics said it showed wealth in a way that felt out of touch, pointing to a sprawling house and ungrateful grandchildren.

In the M&S version Norton's Santa goes undercover, losing his beard so he can see the lead-up to Christmas unrecognised, while Punch is a snobbish Mrs Claus. Together they crash a dinner party, visit a children's carol service and meet "picky bits". Campaign's cultural editor Gurjit Degun called the ad "playful and tongue in cheek without being silly".

One campaign for the whole store

M&S has folded fashion, food, beauty and homeware into a single campaign rather than separate adverts. It last used that approach in 2017. M&S wants viewers to take away that Christmas means time together, not only large presents. Yet everything shown, from Punch's pyjamas to the towel and the prawn cones, is on sale. John Lewis, by contrast, is telling people to give physical gifts rather than cash.

Norton said the script was playful, funny and reverent, and that he is a fan of the director, Shannon Murphy, whose credits include Killing Eve and Babyteeth. Punch said she wanted fun rather than another tearjerker: "Life is enough of a tearjerker, it's fun to have something festive with a bit of a wink."

A hack and rising costs weigh on both

Both retailers need the season to go well. M&S is still recovering from a 2025 cyber hack that shut its website for more than six weeks and cost it over £100m. John Lewis is trying to revive interest while dealing with higher costs and weaker consumer confidence.

Jonathan De Mello, founder of JDM Retail consulting, called the John Lewis approach smart. He said the casting of Scott Thomas reflects the fairly affluent customer the store targets, but warned that it could alienate the mass market. For a younger generation, he said, it shows a lifestyle that many cannot reach. In his view the M&S ad shows the retailer has turned its business around, with food and fashion now aligned and a pitch to younger shoppers.

Source: The Guardian