A tram driver who has to work at Christmas or a raindrop that cannot turn into a snowflake because of climate change. Aldi, Edeka and Penny press on the tear gland with their commercials for the festival. In doing so, they concentrate on the major social issues of our time – and follow a clear calculation. An analysis by Anna Schmid.
Christmas this year will be different again than in the pre-Corona era. Of course, the strategists of the large supermarket and discounter chains are also aware of this. Aldi, Edeka and Penny – they have all prepared commercials that remind us of the really important topics.
For example, there is a father who confesses to his son in the Aldi clip: “Ben, this year I definitely have the morning shift at Christmas“After this confession, the son, frustrated, goes to his room.
Although the father has to extend his Christmas shift, his son approaches him in the end. Together they eat Christmas goose, red cabbage and potato dumplings from lunch boxes – it’s a modest, little festival, without a lot of frills. The message is clear: take time for each other, even if it is difficult.
Aldi, Edeka and Penny spread maudlin Christmas spots
“Holy Night Shift” is the name of Aldi’s Christmas commercial, which aims to draw attention to the hard professional life of people who work in systemically relevant professions. In the Corona crisis in particular, it became abundantly clear how important jobs are in nursing, but also in food retailing or local public transport. The father in the spot, he’s a tram driver.
At Penny, too, the connection between Christmas and the pandemic is made. A mother and her son sit together at the dining table in the middle of the night. The mother wishes for Christmas that her child would celebrate parties, experience the first lovesickness. That your son can be a completely normal teenager, just like in the past.
Edeka tries in a different way to emotionally charge the season. In the supermarket’s Christmas spot we see a drop of water that wants to become a snowflake. But he literally falls from the clouds when that doesn’t work. It’s just too warm, thanks to climate change.
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Supermarkets and the really big social problems
Aldi, Penny, Edeka – the company’s Christmas clips seem to be aimed primarily at one thing: the really big social problems. Climate change, young people in the Corona crisis and people who work in systemically important professions and give up a piece of private life for it. Supermarket and discounter advertising has seldom been as serious as it is now.
But even if the spots of the three food giants draw attention to the challenges of our time. Edeka, Aldi and Penny are not interested in the common good in their campaigns. Because advertising, that much is clear, primarily serves to persuade people to buy their own products in front of the television, laptop or with the daily newspaper in hand.
Apparently, the motto here is: the more emotional and sentimental, the better the chocolate, socks or washing machine tabs sell. The commercials from Edeka, Aldi and Penny manage without actually showing any products. Rather, they want to create deep sympathy for their brand. You no longer have to hold the packaged Christmas goose in front of the camera to maneuver your own product range into the hearts of the audience.
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Jörg Matthes, who works as a professor for advertising research at the University of Vienna, also sees this connection.
In an interview with CHIP, he describes two advertising motifs: “On the one hand, companies want to generate attention. This works best if you address emotions and have a feel for the current mood. The campaigns address a basic emotional mood that prevails in the population, especially in the run-up to Christmas. “
The penny spot managed to hit the nerve of the times, says Matthes. “Many people can empathize with the situation depicted, which leads to strong emotions.” In the public discourse, according to the advertising expert, there is no real place for such emotions, “it is about numbers, measures, virus variants, vaccinations, restrictions and regulations”.
At the same time, it is clear to Matthes that campaigns like those by Aldi, Penny and Edeka aim to boost the company’s image. “The positive emotions should be linked to the brand. This is actually difficult for the supermarket chains, because mostly prices and offers are advertised. ”
Christmas clips: “The social problem is a means to an end”
Matthes does not believe that such campaigns want to address real societal problems. “It’s clearly about advertising: The social problem is a means to an end, not an end in itself.”
In the end, the Christmas advertising clips from discounters and supermarkets are one thing above all: the perfect way to link your own brand with more than cheap prices. “The most important good is attention and that is achieved through the campaigns,” says advertising expert Matthes.
And even if, in the end, profit comes first. When watching “Holy Night Shift”, one or the other viewer will perhaps think of all the bus drivers, nurses and doctors who sprint through hospital corridors or drive down dark alleys at the festive season.