While shop windows swap witches' hats for Santa caps before we've bitten the heads, Ozzy-style, from our Halloween gelatine bats, the festive season doesn't truly begin until Coke unveils its latest Christmas ad.
And this year's is the most spectacular yet, placing the hapless consumers of Coketown inside a snow-globe wielded by a vast Santa figure.
Fun, dynamic and more visually stimulating than ecstasy eyedrops, it's another triumph from the 'holidays are coming' stable, whose annual TV blitzkrieg of armoured Coke trucks is as much a Yuletide tradition as frozen tramps and turkey-based botulism.
The malevolent puppet-master vibe of this ad's St Nick is a telling parallel of Coke's Christmas control.
So complete is Coca-Cola's ownership of Christmas it's a Nativity-sized miracle the Bible doesn't have Jesus turning Dasani into wine at that wedding.
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And this year's is the most spectacular yet, placing the hapless consumers of Coketown inside a snow-globe wielded by a vast Santa figure.
Fun, dynamic and more visually stimulating than ecstasy eyedrops, it's another triumph from the 'holidays are coming' stable, whose annual TV blitzkrieg of armoured Coke trucks is as much a Yuletide tradition as frozen tramps and turkey-based botulism.
The malevolent puppet-master vibe of this ad's St Nick is a telling parallel of Coke's Christmas control.
So complete is Coca-Cola's ownership of Christmas it's a Nativity-sized miracle the Bible doesn't have Jesus turning Dasani into wine at that wedding.
More from this column
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