Australia’s supermarkets have rolled out their 2024 Christmas campaigns, leaning into timeless themes of magic moments and family joy as allegations of price-gouging cast an ugly shadow over the holiday season.
Australians are nearing Christmas with tighter budgets than usual, and it’s no surprise that many are feeling the pinch. In the nation’s cost-of-living crisis, Woolworths and Coles have found themselves mired in legal battles, accused of misleading customers with what the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission called “illusory” discounts.
Both supermarket giants are also facing class action lawsuits over dodgy discount claims, and potentially hefty fines that could go into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Amid these controversies, they have had to tread carefully in their Christmas advertising.
Struggling to get themselves off the naughty list, Woolworths and Coles have opted to play it safe in ads “to the point of creating wallpaper”, says consumer psychologist and founder of Thinkerbell advertising agency Adam Ferrier.
“Christmas is a time for genuine emotion and genuine sense of connection with others,” he said. “It’s also a time for advertisers to prey on that, and it feels like the Christmas advertising from the supermarkets feels insincere and opportunistic.”
Coles management would beg to differ, describing its campaign as “heartwarming”. Its ads feature team members working as magical elves alongside Australian farmers, growers and suppliers to create the holiday spread.
“Christmas is a time of magic, joy and coming together with family and friends, but we know it can also be a busy and stressful period for customers,” Coles head of brand, media and content Bianca Mundy said, introducing the campaign. “This Christmas, Coles is helping Aussies deliver a delicious Christmas with an exciting range of easy and affordable products for every table.”
Meanwhile, Woolworths’ campaign is set in rural Victoria and tells the story of a young girl who, worried that Santa might miss her home, teams up with friends and the local community to build a giant carrot in a paddock to guide him on Christmas Eve.
Woolworths chief marketing officer Andrew Hicks said the company’s focus this year was on helping customers celebrate the holidays in an affordable way.
“We recognise that many Australians are continuing to experience cost-of-living pressures, but they still want to be able to celebrate Christmas with friends and family within their budgets,” he said.
However, despite the festive intentions, Ferrier said the picture-perfect depictions of Christmas in these ads, along with lavish table settings, are unrealistic and come across as tone-deaf given the way many Australian families will be celebrating this year.
“It feels like they’re trying to tell stories of togetherness that feel so insincere and contrived that they’ve lost the magic of the moment of Christmas, by being too heavy-handed and too contrived in their approach,” he said.
A report published earlier this month by research firm MST Marquee reveals just how much is hinging on the holiday season for the main supermarkets, with November and December accounting for 22 per cent of their annual sales.
MST Marquee’s Craig Woolford said Christmas was a crucial time for supermarket profitability.
“It matters a lot, but we also do a lot,” he said. “We do a lot of entertaining and Christmas events, and Christmas Day means that supermarkets sell a lot more, and also more expensive items.”
Despite the ongoing cost-of-living pressures, Woolford said consumers were still willing to spend on small indulgences during the holidays. While the supermarkets’ Christmas campaigns may do little to shift the dial on where consumers choose to shop, Woolford believes promotions will be a key factor in guiding their decisions.
“I don’t think the pressure on the consumer is enough to dent spending in supermarkets this Christmas,” he said.
“The major theme we’re seeing from consumers is that they’re cross-shopping more often. In other words, they’re shopping at all the different retail outlets where they can buy their grocery items to cherry-pick the specials and promotions.”
Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
With this shift in consumer behaviour, Woolford said supermarkets were focusing on positioning themselves as the primary destination for shoppers during the festive season.
“That usually comes down to messages around price and what items and promotions they have,” he said. “But this time of year, consumers are also looking at the range and the quality of the fresh offering, given that’s an important part of the meal.”
With Woolworths’ and Coles’ promotional messaging under scrutiny from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Aldi’s Christmas campaign differs from the two main supermarkets. The German supermarket has successfully avoided the backlash over rising prices that Coles and Woolworths face, and its ad is even tapping into a promise to shoppers that “with Aldi, you can go a little extra this Christmas”.
The ad campaign centres on an overly enthusiastic couple determined to go all-out for Christmas lunch. Assigned the simple task of bringing the turkey and gravy, they take things to the extreme to create the ultimate festive spread.
“Every Christmas, even those of us who plan to keep it low-key can’t help but splash out on little indulgences, festive flair, and the finishing touches that make Christmas feel like Christmas,” said Aldi Australia marketing director Jenny Melhuish.
Ferrier said Aldi’s latest campaign takes on a fun-oriented, less fuzzy approach than those of its bigger rivals and is part of a series of distinctively positive Christmas advertising from the supermarket.
“They’ve built a style of communications of taking really strong Christmas themes and treating them really irreverently and putting a smile on people’s faces, so they’re entertained as they’re watching the ads,” he said.
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