Oxfam Unwrapped

I first became aware of the new advertising campaign for Oxfam Unwrapped in Balham tube station a few days ago. There was a picture of Helena Bonham-Carter wrapped up like a christmas present with the slogan “say no to crap christmas presents”.

To be honest I was a little confused for a second or two. I couldn’t for the life of me see why anyone would see Helena Bonham-Carter as a crap christmas present. Then I realised my mistake. You’re supposed to think that she’s just been given a crap christmas present and that she’s gagged (by a christmas bow that represents politeness) into not saying what she thinks about it. And the way to avoid being seen as someone who gives crap presents to people like Helena is to buy them from Oxfam Unwrapped.

I like the idea of Oxfam Unwrapped a lot. You give Oxfam money and they buy something useful and send it to the developing world. The people who you bought the present for get a card telling them what you’ve bought and where it’s gone. I used it a couple of years ago. I bought a goat for a couple of friends. It was much appreciated.

If you want to avoid the traditional commercialisation of christmas, then you could do much worse than buying your presents from Oxfam