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Your support makes all the difference.Aldi has released its highly-anticipated Christmas advert for 2021, with England footballer Marcus Rashford lending his star power to the supermarket’s festive campaign.
Last week, Aldi teased the advert’s storyline by introducing a new character named Ebanana Scrooge, sparking fears that the beloved Kevin the Carrot character would be replaced.
But fans were relieved to see Kevin the Carrot returned when the full advert launched on Wednesday night, along with a few other unexpected characters from the Aldi-verse.
We uncovered all the Easter eggs hidden within Aldi’s version of A Christmas Carol, including cameos and puns.
Marcus Radishford
Although this new character is by no means hidden, he still deserves a mention for the fantastic pun inspired by Rashford’s name.
Marcus Radishford is, as you may have guessed, a radish who is “always helping children” – a nod to the footballer’s work in campaigning for free school meals for vulnerable children in the UK.
Rashford said he was “delighted” to support Aldi’s campaign, which aims to donate 1.8 million meals to families in in need across the UK over the Christmas period.
A number of people were impressed by the pun, with one person writing: “Whoever came up with Marcus Radishford needs a raise.”
Cuthbert the Caterpillar
Some eagle-eyed viewers spotted a controversial character in the background of the advert, being escorted by two lemon policemen.
Cuthbert the Caterpillar, Aldi’s version of a caterpillar cake, found himself at the centre of a legal battle earlier this year after Marks and Spencer lodged an intellectual property claim, accusing Aldi of infringing on its Colin the Caterpillar cake trademark.
Both supermarkets sent digs at one another over social media in the form of jokes and memes in response to the legal challenge, the details of which have not been made public.
Now, Aldi has included Cuthbert the Caterpillar in its Christmas advert, who can be spotted at the beginning of the advert being escorted by two lemon policemen – aka “peelers”.
One person said the cameo was “priceless”, while another asked: “Has M&S seen what your Peelers have done to Cuthbert?”
The Gingerbread Family
Fans of The Great British Bake Off were delighted to see a cameo appearance of the Gingerbread Family who can be seen in adverts during the baking competition show.
The ginger-flavoured biscuit people stand around an Aldi Christmas cake as one of them rides a snow sled down the side of the cake, breaking one of his arms.
But Kevin the Carrot, who stars as the Ghost of Christmas, swoops in to help and says: “Oh, that looks painful… You should try icing it.”
He sticks the arm back on with some icing from the cake and all is well once again.
The puns
Aldi’s Christmas advert is packed full of puns, and people loved it.
From Ebanana (Ebenezer) Scrooge, to Tiny Tom the cherry tomato, to Peas and Goodwill, two little peas in hats, fans of the advert thought the supermarket had outdone itself.
“Grade-A puns in this and a lovely message too,” said one person, while another added: “Wow… they really heard ‘use food puns’ and went all out.”
A third person said: “Another great job Aldi. Loved the Twitter run up and the amount of puns you have crammed into 60 seconds.”
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