Watch: Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons release Christmas adverts

Sainsbury’s Christmas ad this year is set in a Medieval, fantasy setting and stars Alison Hammond and is narrated by Stephen Fry. 

The story focuses on a young pastry chef trying to impress The Countess (Hammond) with his version of the much-maligned and highly controversial Christmas pudding. 

The ad is designed to highlight some of Sainsbury’s new Taste the Difference products that are being introduced in time for Christmas. 

The 85-second advert will be available to watch on YouTube. A 60-second TV advert will premiere tonight, and shorter 20- and 30-second spots will be shown across TV and on social media.

Sainsbury’s head of campaigns Laura Boothby said: “Food plays a central role in any celebration, and we wanted to bring to life the imagination and innovation that goes into creating our Taste the Difference Christmas range. We also wanted the ad to provide some fun and light-hearted Christmas cheer and who better to do that than Alison Hammond?

“The festive feast is a quintessential Christmas moment for many and the perfect setting to celebrate what Sainsbury’s does best: delicious, quality, great value food. We’re always creating and developing new recipes and Christmas is the perfect time to experiment with new twists on traditional flavours.

“We’ve focused on the Christmas pudding specifically because we know it’s divisive – people love it or hate it – and that’s why we’ve created the Taste the Difference caramelised biscuit pudding. Pudding lovers can still opt for the traditional dessert, but those who aren’t fans can try our innovative take on the Christmas classic instead.”

Farmer Christmas returns

The Morrisons Christmas advert features a return for Farmer Christmas, after his debut last year. 

Morrisons said the character showcases “the other hero of Christmas [and] illustrates the work British farmers do to help make Christmas so special”. It also features many Morrisons workers in its food production business, the “‘real life elves’ who help make more than half the fresh food that Morrisons sells.”

In the ad, Father Christmas introduces a Morrisons baker creating puff pastry mince pies in “magic ovens” (or normal ovens, as the baker clarifies), a fishmonger showing off smoked Scottish salmon, and a butcher who passes Farmer Christmas a traditionally glazed gammon joint, which he describes as being “like a big edible Christmas present”.

The 60-second TV ad, created with agency Publicis•Poke, will launch during Good Morning Britain on Monday, followed by network TV spots that include Coronation Street, Great British Bake Off, I’m a Celebrity and Gogglebox.

Rachel Eyre, Morrisons’ chief customer and marketing officer, said: “We know that customers are having to manage their budgets closely at the moment but they have told us they don’t want to compromise on the Christmas meal. We’ve brought Farmer Christmas back this year to show them the food and great prices that, thanks to Morrisons food-makers and farmers, will be available throughout the festive period, all stamped with his seal of approval.”

Elf and safety

Asda’s offering meanwhile uses original footage from 2003 film Elf to introduce Buddy the Elf, played by Will Ferrell, as the star of its Christmas campaign. 

The advert opens with what Asda called “a loving homage to Elf’s iconic street crossing scene – except this time, it’s a train of Asda shopping trolleys, not a New York City cab, that causes Buddy to exclaim ’sorry!’ as it crashes into him”.

The ad premieres at 8.45pm tonight on ITV1 during Coronation Street and was created by agency Havas London.

Sam Dickson, acting chief customer Officer at Asda, said: “Like Buddy, we absolutely love Christmas – so we’re thrilled to welcome him to our team. We know this has been a tough year for so many people, which is why we want to create some little moments of joy for families this year with our Christmas campaign, and more importantly, our amazing products. We hope that with a little bit of help from Buddy, our joy-filled Christmas offering will create some festive magic and helps give families a Christmas to remember together.”