'All this is going to do is cause problems': Tesco shoppers react to 'unrealistic' 2026 Christmas advert

The three-minute Tesco advert stars comedian Roisin Conaty as Tesco delivery driver Polly and Anna Maxwell Martin, who you might recognise from Motherland, as Lizzie.

It starts with Polly making her usual Christmas Eve deliveries when she spots an order for someone she recognises, old school friend Lizzie. But, then there’s a problem as Lizzie has accidentally sent her Tesco Christmas food shopping to her old address, which is miles away.

Polly decides to do something she says she wouldn’t normally do, and the pair arrange to meet halfway at a motorway service station so that Lizzie can get her Christmas shopping.

Lizzie then runs into another problem, however, when her car won’t start. So, Polly goes above and beyond to help her old pal again and agrees to take her and her shopping all the way back home.

Soundtracked by The Police's Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, the journey becomes a chance for the former friends to catch up, reminisce and laugh about old times. But there's clearly a bit of history between them.

At one point, Polly apologises for something that happened in the past, suggesting that their friendship ended on difficult terms, though the circumstances are not revealed. Lizzie doesn't want to dwell on it though, telling her that it was a long time ago.

By the end, the festive disaster leads to a Christmas reunion and Polly spends Christmas Day with Lizzie and her family.

If you want to watch the Tesco advert yourself, you can do so below:

The Tesco advert is supposed to inspire heartwarming seasonal cheer, and it does to a point. But there are so many details in it that are so unrealistic shoppers are struggling to connect with it, and so am I.

As one shopper pointed out on X, “I don’t think any delivery driver would have time for this faff on Christmas Eve.” That’s very true.

It’s not just shoppers who are unimpressed with the advert. Even Tesco’s own staff have poked holes in it. A Youtube commenter known only as Graham who works as a delivery driver wrote: “All this ad is going to do is cause problems for us, thank you Tesco.”

I’m not surprised by Graham’s reaction. Tesco delivery drivers in the real world wouldn’t be able to take an order to anywhere other than the address the customer had provided, I’m sure. Let alone an address that was many, many miles away and would take hours to travel to. I’m sure it would be a GDPR nightmare. Not to mention the fact that the driver would have other deliveries to make and wouldn’t have time to go on a hours-long detour.

Then there’s the fact that Polly takes Lizzie back home in the delivery van when she breaks down. That just woudn’t happen either. One shopper wrote on Youtube: “Not sure Tesco delivery drivers are insured to carry a customer!” Another said: “The Tesco driver would be told off that the other deliveries never showed up.”

One more customer pointed out: “Then she gets fired for taking too long for her deliveries and not returning the van,” referring to the end of the advert where Polly leaves her van outside Lizzie’s house to go and enjoy Christmas with her. That one made me laugh out loud.

I know we’re meant to suspend our disbelief when watching TV, especially Christmas TV, but the problem is that this reflects what could be a real life situation so it’s hard to look past these glaring issues.

It’s actually much easier to enjoy a Christmas advert and suspend disbelief when they feature a world that is obviously not real, with CGI animals for example or a magical wonderland.

But, no matter what my thoughts, there’s no denying that, with the launch of their advert, Tesco has declared the festive season officially begun. Even though it’s only the beginning of November. Is it too early? That’s a question for another day, and by then there will be another Christmas ad anyway, whether I like it ot not.