John Lewis has a very sweet and touching story of sisterly love, only diminished by their track record of bringing viewers to tears. They have no one to blame but themselves for being held to such a high standard.

Skewing the usual warm fuzzies and instead going for the classic tradition of turning on your friends and family, Waitrose has gone all Agatha Christie and released a two-part festive mystery. Featuring Matthew Macfadyen (consistently listed as “from Succession” but to millennials he will always be Mr Darcy) as the requisite quirky detective, see if you can guess the culprit before tracking down the second part.

Lets start rockin’ around the KFC, as the fast-food chain has released limited-edition vinyl records made from their bucket lids. Kentucky Fried Carols takes inspiration from the Colonels music career, turns out he released three Christmas albums, cause people would buy anything in the 60s.

Boots is facing backlash for their Christmas ad showing Mrs Claus as the real brains behind the operation. What’s the catch, you ask? What’s the part making people mad? Just the concept of a woman… running a business? Being a little sassy about it? We’re not 100% sure cause we don’t have skin that thin.

Coke, however, is in trouble for a legitimate reason. This year’s holiday output recreates a series of ads from the 90’s using AI monstrosities, driving their delivery trucks straight into the uncanny valley.

Every year the rest of the world gets delightful Christmas ads, in Australia, we get a reminder the sun wants us dead. This year’s memento-mori comes from Ogilvy Health, who placed a giant melanoma on a beach in Bondi that grew as it sat in the sun, like some kind of Lovecraftian abomination.

New Zealand is now, officially, the best place in the world to have herpes. We could elaborate on that, but it’s funnier if we don’t.

Just before Black Friday, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT raised awareness about shopping online as someone with blindness or low-vision, with a pop-up that removed shoppers ability to see what they’re buying. All items were hidden and their packaging only displayed limited text descriptions – demonstrating very real disability barriers with the ‘see how you like it sucker’ school of empathy.

Part of the appeal of It’s A Wonderful Life is not just the fact it’s public domain so it can be shown on TV a lot, but the idea that our lives, in ways often unnoticed, have a profound impact on those around us. In that spirit, the Centre of Contemporary Photography has released a photobook memorialising ‘the most photographed person in Australia’ – 92-year-old photo-booth technician Alan Adler. Bringing together every test strip Alan has ever taken in his 50-year career as a photo operator, the book is a celebration of those overlooked people who keep art alive.