Ad by German chain Edeka sees an elderly man fake his own death to bring his family together for the festive period

Forget John Lewis, this is the saddest Christmas ad you'll ever see

Handkerchiefs at the ready: the German supermarket chain Edeka has aired a Christmas ad that could top John Lewis’s “Man on the Moon” as this season’s biggest tear-jerker.

In the ad, which has been viewed on YouTube almost 10m times, a lonely old man comes up with drastic measures to bring his family together: he fakes his own death.



It starts with the man, played by British actor Arthur Nightingale, receiving a voicemail from his daughter telling him that, once again, the family won’t make it home for Christmas. He sits alone at the dinner table, enduring yet another lonely Christmas.

In the next scene, his children, all busy in daily life, get the news that their father has died. One of the sons, on a business trip to China, starts crying and another fights to hold back tears in his job at hospital.

They all meet at their father’s house, grieving and dressed in black, but to their astonishment find the table set for dinner and their father, obviously alive, emerging from the kitchen. “How else could I have brought you all together?” he asks.

The loneliness of the elderly at Christmas was raised by John Lewis in its Man on the Moon ad, which has been viewed almost 20m times.

Sainsbury’s also went for the sentimental approach by resurrecting Mog the Cat for its Christmas ad, which has had more than 18m views on Youtube.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sainsbury’s Christmas ad.

The Edeka ad, which was created by German advertising agency Jung von Matt, has received a mixed response in social media, with some finding it too dark while others have welcomed the spotlight on loneliness.