From wistful penguins, to overworked mums and even trench warfare, this year Christmas adverts tug at our heartstrings harder than ever. We sat down with Dr. Alex Gordon, semiotician and founder of Sign Salad to discuss the meaning behind the media magic.

From toothbrushes to paper clips, Harvey Nichols’ special Christmas collection encourages people to buy “a little something” for their loved ones – so they can buy “a bigger something” for themselves. It taps into a growing trend: self-gifting.

Once solely a US phenomenon, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are now a big deal in the UK. Retailers around the world, both on and offline, will discount their goods on the last Friday of November and first Monday of December with all-time spending records set to be broken.

What did you want to go as this year? Daenerys from Game of Thrones? Frozen’s Elsa? In the US, people are spending more year on year at Halloween, on costumes, cards and party decorations. But as a season driven by last minute spending, how do retailers cater to the market?