Ikea: Waste by Great Guns

Christmas is often a time of indulgence and extravagance - but that doesn’t mean we should be careless in our behaviour over the holiday season. In a bid to encourage a more sensible, considerate approach to Christmas consumption, Ikea Russia has launched a dramatic new spot that shows just what might happen if we carelessly discard our excess food - instead of storing it in plastic containers.

Directed by Great Guns’ Ilya Naishuller, the festive spot begins with a seemingly typical Christmas scene, as a young boy plays in the snow, surrounded by Christmas trees and fairy lights. As he goes to throw another snowball, however, his attention is drawn to the sky, watching in shock as a giant chunk of pineapple falls from above and crushes a nearby snowman. Suddenly, food begins to fall all over the neighbourhood, as the iconic Christmas song ‘Carol of the Bells’ plays dramatically over the action. We watch as the boy dodges a variety of festive foods, diving through Swiss cheese and evading a tangerine the size of a car.

When he finally reaches his apartment - which is adorned with a giant bunch of grapes - he discovers his mother carelessly throwing away the leftovers of their Christmas dinner, unaware of the destruction raining down outside. Once she turns to face out the window and realises, however, they decide to pack all their excess food into containers instead - as a voiceover notes that if nature chooses to return everything we’ve thrown away, we should have a holiday without any leftovers.