Have Your Elf a Merry Christmas

The story

Why it stays with you

Buddy the Elf joins Asda for a chaotic Christmas trial shift, bringing film-sized enthusiasm to the supermarket floor.

Buddy has arrived for his first shift, and the Christmas preparations are about to get considerably louder. Asda's 2022 advert places the character from Elf inside a busy supermarket, where his enthusiasm proves both disruptive and infectious.

The campaign combines footage from the 2003 film with newly shot scenes, under licence from Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products. Framestore integrated Buddy into the new setting for Havas London's campaign, directed by Daniel Kleinman through Rattling Stick.

For Christmas film fans, the pleasure is seeing a familiar character let loose somewhere unexpected. The 90-second television advert premiered on ITV1 on 4 November 2022.

Playback checked 15 October 2026. Video availability may change.