Christmas, ‘Tis the season of goodwill towards all and buying mountains of stuff. The UK advertising industry is in the business of selling this stuff and the festive season is now the UK equivalent of the Superbowl. This year’s crop of ads have been delivered with aplomb.

Yet while the Christmas advertising machine shows no signs of slowing down, a growing unease over the impact of our consumption habits on the climate crisis is also rising up the business agenda.

Social media, which fuelled fast fashion through the unwillingness of consumers to be pictured in the same outfit twice, is now seeking to be part of the solution to problems of its own creation. In the place of influencers organising seemingly endless volumes of snacks, treats and food, with an ever-increasing volume of plastic organisers, consumers are now embracing a shift to underconsumption. With that great life you aren’t living on social media now demanding you buy an ever-increasing range of products, is it any wonder consumers are actively pushing back?

Many brands have embraced this shift to simplification to sell more stuff. The no-make-up make-up look that demands a myriad of products underlines that in many ways underconsumption as a trend is little more than a marketing mirage.

With these contradictions in mind, it's safe to say that understanding underconsumption in the marketing industry is not akin to Turkey’s voting for Christmas. With this in mind, we asked industry experts how Christmas advertising can better embrace the shift towards underconsumption.

Our data shows that UK consumers are addressing their sustainability concerns at Christmas in the simplest way possible - they’re just buying less. People are more likely to be cutting down overall than ‘buying better’ or making their own gifts.

This means that messages around excess, like Lego's, with an ad featuring literal mountains of product, or Argos', with a campaign which focuses on ‘more’, are likely to start losing their relevance. In the current context, brands need to work harder than ever to stand out.

Focusing on giving love rather than gifts is a viable strategy for brands looking to build a stronger emotional connection. Aldi, with its goodwill-focused festive sign-off, and Morrisons, which suggests ‘give a little love and it all comes back to you’, are leaning towards this strategy, even while they focus on abundance from a functional perspective.

For market leaders, it makes sense to ensure that if people only buy one gift, they buy with them. This year, John Lewis is aiming to do just that by saying that the secret to buying the perfect gift is knowing where to look. The fact that the 'gift' is singular combined with the continued focus on giving knowingly signals intentional, mindful consumption that gives kudos to the buyer.

Whether “underconsumption core” goes beyond virtue signalling or creating an aesthetic on social media and is becoming a “shift” in consumer behaviour & purchase habits is questionable. The trend is urban, liberal and primarily performed by people who haven’t had to make do with less out of necessity. With Halloween now being the UK’s biggest single-use plastic event, and growing year-on-year, it’s hard to believe that people are ready to stop overconsuming. Likewise, UK Christmas spending is forecast to increase this year.

There is virtue in encouraging people to buy only what they need. To buy quality over quantity. But this is the preserve of premium brands who are able to command high prices. Those that rely on volume don’t have that luxury. Jigsaw leveraged this with their For Life Not Landfill campaign (The Corner), but this was still an advert telling people to buy more: that is the job of advertising. Brands exist to make things more desirable to buy. So why should they embrace a trend that amounts to turkeys voting for Christmas?

“Sorry, shareholders, sales are down this year because we used our ads to tell people to buy less of our products. It’s very on trend!”.

Every Hallmark Christmas movie insists the season isn’t about things; it’s about love, family, and goodwill. This sentiment is always a lovely thought, yet it feels hollow in a world dominated by overconsumption. As someone in the business of selling things, let’s be real: the holidays are synonymous with excess. From endless gift guides to the mounting pressure to perform holiday “perfection,” it’s expensive, wasteful, and exhausting.

But as trends like deinfluencing and anti-overconsumption rise, there’s an opportunity to rewrite the holiday narrative. Enter: mindful consumption. No, it’s not about abandoning gifts altogether—let’s not kid ourselves—but about reframing consumption to prioritise meaning over materialism.

This is where Christmas advertising can shine. Brands must celebrate quality over quantity, timelessness over trendiness, and sentiment over spectacle. Campaigns could encourage thoughtful gestures like second-hand gifting, supporting local makers, or even offering experiences instead of “stuff.” John Lewis gets it right: the value isn’t in the gift itself but the connection it represents.

Brands also have a chance to call out the wastefulness of the season. The staggering 3 million tonnes of landfill waste generated each Christmas is proof of a system out of control. By embracing sustainability—through material innovation, conscious messaging, or storytelling focused on less wasteful traditions—brands can lead consumers to value impact over indulgence.

It’s time the industry shifted from driving endless consumption to inspiring intention. Less can be more, especially during the most wonderful (and hopefully formally materialistic) time of the year.

For a long time, both online and offline, social status was tied to how much money someone could spend. Now, however, a new wave of conscious social users is rewriting the narrative, prioritising sustainability over splashing the cash—and this counter-trend is rapidly gaining traction. But what does this mean for brands - especially during their busiest time of the year?

The key is that it’s not about abandoning commerce; it’s about reframing it. Even festive marketing can tap into this movement of intentional consumerism, by shifting the focus from excess to championing thoughtful, sustainable joy. Brands can position themselves as partners in sustainability, highlighting products that integrate meaningfully into consumers’ lives—not as disposable purchases, but as a regular part of their day.

This approach means celebrating longevity and enduring value. Campaigns can focus on the lasting joy of well-loved items, showcasing timeless gifts and the beauty of upcycling or embracing second-hand treasures. Acknowledge the realities of tighter budgets by showing how their products deliver value beyond the initial purchase—creating a long-term love affair, not just a seasonal fling.

We explore this shift in detail in our new report, Think Forward 2025: The Liveable Web (launching 21st November).

Brands talking about underconsumption at Christmas can feel a bit like expecting a turkey to buy a new oven for the big day. It has an undertone of disbelief on a brand’s MO for Christmas; planning campaigns in July, throwing huge budgets at ads, and pushing consumers to spend more. And let’s be honest—advertisers have played a huge role in encouraging overconsumption, feeding the universal ‘truth’ that “giving more” means “loving more.”

But like many things, the tide of opinion is turning. Underconsumption is a consumer-driven trend - people want brands to reflect their values, act responsibly, and do good.

If you want to give a shit about underconsumption encourage giving gifts that last beyond one person. Brands like M&S and Next support handing down kids’ clothes, which makes the gift feel more meaningful and provides an emotional narrative for ad comms.

You can also shift the spotlight from stuff to moments, helping create experiences people will value—whether that’s through memberships, subscriptions, or activities people can do together.

And even if underconsumption isn’t your main message, don’t encourage overconsumption.

Promote recycling, mindfulness or DIY ideas. Aim to hit a base level of responsibility. Or if you’re making sustainability claims, back them up. Work with companies that offer circular economy solutions and make sure your actions match your words. No one likes a festive hypocrite or managing crisis comms on Christmas Day.

It would be great if culturally we could move away from portraying Christmas as endless over consumption - everything from the table stacked to the roof with food to piles of presents. But I think it’s just seasonal storytelling and still under the influence of Charles Dickens.

Surely pre-loved Christmas presents would be achingly cool to give but, in truth, how would people feel about them?

My mother had a wealthy aristocratic friend who would recycle her Christmas cards. There was something strange about getting a card from an old lady living in a vast hall, which had last year's message crossed out, and a new one scribbled in. I expect it was her way of pushing back on tasteless over consumption, but it actually felt like you’d been to Scrooge-fix.

My son’s French grandmother once gave him a second hand DVD that was Part 2 of a film he’d never seen. It rather gave the impression of Scrooge-fix rather than a thoughtful, loving gift.

Black Friday has become the pre-runner to Christmas, where no good will is exhibited and three people fight over a 48-inch TV in Asda - more jungle bells than jingle bells.

So I think perhaps the reality is that Christmas advertising is easy on the eye, and part of generic festive entertainment, but has very little impact on the behaviour of real consumers who are ploughing their own way.

After a tough year, we may not be ready for ‘Christmas underconsumption’ – but perhaps we just need take a step towards it. Advertising is safe to encourage Christmas indulgence and even the giving of gifts as long as it points that demand in the right direction. Back in Christmas 2014, John Lewis’s Monty ad inspired the public to buy 50,000 stuffed penguins. Last Christmas, garden centres reported record sales of Venus fly traps. A small shift, but the kind that if multiplied across brands in many sectors can make a big difference.

One big low impact gifting opportunity we’re yet to crack is the digitisation of gifts. Seven out of ten of us are happy receiving digital gifts, but shoppers aren’t so keen buying them - perhaps because they’re hard to wrap but mainly because they don’t signify the same level of care. But it’s in advertising’s power to change the signals and help us value different things. Even if we’re not promoting different products, if advertising can celebrate a more conscious approach to gifting, it will have an effect. And of course, it’s the small things that matter most. For my entire childhood, my uncle used the same wrapping paper that he would take away and rewrap in a rubber band the following year. Fast forward 20 years and I can remember it much more clearly than any other gift. It’s the kind of small behavioural shift that can have a halo on people’s whole Christmas philosophy.