The duo – made up of Jeremy and Lorraine Millington from Wells, Somerset – told the Guardian that they sent John Lewis’ head of marketing the track in March this year, but did not receive a reply. “On the one hand, it feels like a vindication of our musical ideas,” the band said in a post on Facebook. “We can’t pretend otherwise. “On the other, it feels like a heartless betrayal of all that those musical ideas were being used to represent.”They added: “John Lewis went with the idea and produced a version borrowing the ‘feeling’ and many elements of the arrangement of our version, without even letting us know they were planning to do so.”However, a John Lewis spokesperson has said The Portraits addressed their email a person who went on to leave the business in June, and was also not involved in this year’s Christmas ad campaign. They there is “no substance” to the band’s claims, adding in a statement: “The creation of advertising and music is carried out solely by our agency and we are unable to read or consider ideas from other external or internal sources.”

Source: Huffington Post November 12, 2021 14:59 UTC