Irish Examiner view: Wishing you a happy AI Christmas

The balance between sentimentality and sugar-sweet whimsy can be difficult to achieve

 John Lewis' new Christmas advert follows a woman frantically buying a last-minute gift for her sister in the memory-strewn tear-jerker, The Gifting Hour. Picture: John Lewis/PA

It’s an important component of the flight path into Christmas to wonder what messages the creative agencies are attempting to implant in our brains with the battery of festive advertisements which are now in full flow.

The starting gun was fired just after Halloween by Aldi and Lidl, whose competitive efforts are not limited to price wars. Both share the same theme — that it is better to give than receive.