Walmart's "The Grinch" Commercial

Submission 6,325

Part of a series on The Grinch. [View Related Entries]

About

Walmart's "The Grinch" Commercial, also known by its official title Welcome to the Grinch’s Walmart, is a holiday-themed commercial released by Walmart focusing on Dr. Seuss' The Grinch. Following its upload on YouTube on December 7th, 2023, it became a subject of discussion online and criticism for promoting commercialism and missing the entire point of the original book and the 1966 television special.

Origin

On December 7th, 2023, American retailer Walmart uploaded a commercial for their store featuring The Grinch, titled "Welcome to the Grinch’s Walmart," to their YouTube channel. In the ad, the Grinch returns to his grumpy ways and steals all Walmart presents from the Whos of Whoville, but he then has a sudden change of heart and returns all the presents back to the citizens.

Precursor

The earliest instance of negative connotation between Dr. Seuss characters and advertisement can be traced back to the live-action version of The Cat in The Hat, released in 2003. In one scene, the cat (played by Mike Myers) advertises Universal Studios while holding two tickets to the theme park. Considering the negative reception of the movie itself from both critics and audiences, this connotation has since been ingrained in some people's minds and led to accusations that the film was one big advertisement for the park.

However, this notion wouldn't be solidified until 9 years later. As a marketing strategy to promote the release of Illumination's The Lorax, automobile manufacturer Mazda partnered with Universal Pictures to use the character and setting to advertise their new CX-5 SUV car. This sparked controversy, as it contradicts the entire message of the original book, which is a critique on capitalism and pollution.

Spread

Following the commercial's release, it received a huge backlash online, resulting in the YouTube video receiving 5.3k dislikes in three weeks. It also led to the hashtag #Walmart trending on X (formely Twitter). Many viewers praised the animation for being spot on with the 1966 special but were disgusted at the idea of Walmart using the beloved character to advertise their products, noting that the point of the original book is to criticize Christmas commercialism and the holiday as a whole.^[1]

For example, on December 22nd, 2023, Twitter^[2] user @HypraSeaPea posted a complaint that the great animation of the ad was used for a Walmart commercial, gaining over 10 retweets and 110 likes in five days (shown below, left). The same day, Twitter^[3] user @AuthorRaisanen made a similar point, connecting the commercial to when the Lorax was used to sell cars, though the tweet did not see much spread (shown below, right).