Waitrose Christmas TV advert again focuses on its charitable support
Howard Lake | 4 November 2013 | News
Supermarket Waitrose is once again focusing on its charitable giving in its Christmas TV advert.
The advert premiered on ITV during the X Factor on Saturday 2 November, and will be aired throughout the Christmas season.
It opens with a young boy in Waitrose with his mother, choosing which charity support with a green Community Matters token. His gift helps fund a charity lunch in a church hall. The film shows Waitrose staff (‘partners’) volunteering at the lunch.
Rupert Thomas, Marketing Director at Waitrose, explained: “I hope this ad will remind people that putting their green token in the Community Matters box can help their community in simple, heartfelt ways that can make a real difference.”
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Christmas advert 2012
Last year’s Waitrose Christmas advert took a similar charitable theme, with Delia Smith and Heston Blementhal appearing in a demonstrating low-budget advert. The message was that the money the supermarket would have spent on a glitzy Christmas ad was being donated to charity instead.
Community Matters
Since its launch in 2008, Waitrose’s Community Matters scheme has donated £14 million to local charities chosen by Waitrose customers.
In addition to Community Matters, Waitrose announced a new initiative in October to help support elderly, homeless and vulnerable people this Christmas. The retailer will help provide Christmas dinner across the country for people who would otherwise be on their own on Christmas day. Each of the retailer’s 300 shops has an allocation of money and volunteering time to put towards community Christmas dinner events.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.