John Lewis Christmas advert: Children’s author “disappointed” at similarities to her book

A children’s author has expressed her disappointment at finding John Lewis’ new Christmas advert similar to her book.

Danielle Smurthwaite, 36, a graphic designer and illustrator from Lincolnshire, self-published her book Popcorn the unicorn on Amazon in April 2017.

The book, inspired by an idea her four-year-old child had, features Popcorn the excitable unicorn who goes round the forest meeting creatures including dragons, pixies and dwarfs.

But every time he makes new friends, he ruins the game they are playing - whether it be blowing bubbles, blowing bubble gum or blowing up balloons - because his horn always destroys the thing they’re doing.

Upset at ruining their games, Popcorn then goes to hide away from the other creatures.

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Later, Popcorn realises if he is good at “popping things” he could make popcorn and offer it as a gift, so he does, successfully resuming his friendships.

On Thursday, John Lewis released its Christmas advert, a joint venture with Waitrose, which follows Edgar the dragon who also unintentionally ruins festive activities - including ice-skating and putting up the tree - by blowing fire out of his nostrils and setting fire to things.

Like Popcorn, Edgar hides away until his friend tells him to put his fire-breathing skills to good use by making a Christmas pudding.

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When Smurthwaite first saw the John Lewis advert on ITV’s This Morning she told The Independent that she recalls thinking the plot was very “familiar” but didn’t think much of it. Then her family and friends started saying the same thing.

So she posted about the similarities on Instagram, where customers who had bought her book - she sold around 400 copies - agreed too.

Although Smurthwaite says she is “not under any illusion” that an executive at John Lewis “sat down and read [my] book,” she says the narrative is undeniably similar to hers.

“My book hasn’t sold millions of copies so I know that they’re unlikely to have sat down and copied it, but this happens to small businesses a lot,” she said. “It’s hard to get your ideas out there and then big brands do this. I just feel sad and disappointed about it.”

According to Smurthwaite, this isn’t the first time this has happened.

“The same happened to Moz the monster [the John Lewis advert from 2017] when author Chris Riddell said it was very similar to his book Mr Underbed,” she recalled. “I can’t prove anything but it’s so hard to feel like you’re being ripped off by larger brands, this goes on all the time.

“It makes our job harder as creatives trying to make money. Especially when you put your work on Instagram and then it’s easy for people to see it and copy.”

“I just want to feel credited,” she added.

As for what she would say to John Lewis, Smurthwaite said: “Reach out to us and include us, make us feel welcome, we could be overwhelmed to be asked by big companies to help with ideas.”

The John Lewis advert, called “Excitable Edgar” is the start of the brand’s annual Christmas campaign and follows previous successes “The Long Wait” and “The Bear and the Hare”.

A spokesperson from John Lewis told The Independent: “There are lots and lots of stories about dragons but Edgar is an original character developed by our creative agency, as is our story.”