Long-suffering Twitter user John Lewis reacts to new John Lewis ad

It’s become as much of a tradition as the advert itself.

The moment the department store unveils its Christmas ad to the world, a man in Virginia with the Twitter handle @johnlewis is inundated with people, who mistakenly think they are speaking to John Lewis the shop, telling him exactly what they think of it.

This year’s advert stars Elton John singing his hit Your Song as the viewer is taken back through key moments in his creative life, ending with the moment he was given a piano by his grandmother.

It was a bit of a change of direction for the retailer after years of lovable characters like Monty the Penguin and Moz the Monster, so naturally people had opinions – and they let John Lewis know about them.

Throughout the year, John Lewis patiently replies to people who mistakenly send him questions about ill-fitting clothes, broken hairdryers and the like, pointing them in the direction of the actual John Lewis and Partners Twitter account.

So naturally he takes time to respond to people’s opinions about the advert too.

And he even gave his own verdict on the ad, describing it as “beautiful”.

Meanwhile, over the years the store has become increasingly aware of the sterling work done by Twitter user John Lewis – and, no doubt, the good publicity that arises from it.

So they gave a little shout out of their own to their namesake.

And if previous years are anything to go by, he could soon be the recipient of a nice little gift package too.

The perks of having a famous name.