Each year, British grocer Sainsbury's creates one of the season's most anticipated Christmas ads, and this year's features the return of a beloved children's character.
Mog the Cat was the star of 16 books by writer and illustrator Judith Kerr, who began the series with Mog the Forgetful Cat in 1970 and ended it with Mog's death in 2002's Goodbye Mog.
Now the celebrated cat is back to cause more mischief, this time nearly ruining Christmas with her clumsy shenanigans in a spot from agency AMV BBDO:
Mog is returning to literary life as well with "Mog's Christmas Calamity," a new book that Kerr created to coincide with the holiday ad. The book will sell for 3 pounds, with a stuffed Mog going for 10 pounds. All profits will go toward helping Save the Children's efforts to boost child literacy in the U.K., according to The Telegraph.
(At 10 pounds, a stuffed Mog is quite a deal compared to John Lewis' Monty the Penguin, which sold out instantly last year despite a 95-pound price tag.)
The new Sainsbury's ad is quite a departure from last year's recreation of the 1914 Christmas truce between Britain and Germany. Some viewers felt that ad was an insensitive commercialization of a true wartime event, but it's hard to imagine too many people getting upset over a cat that returned from the dead only to endanger and then save her family.
