Long-suffering Twitter user John Lewis faces annual online onslaught over Christmas advert

Christmas is a busy time of year for John Lewis – and we’re not talking about the retail giant.

Computer science educator John Lewis of Blacksburg, Virginia, finds that the release of the UK store’s Xmas ad leads to a serious spike in tweets coming his way.

Describing himself on Twitter as a ‘father of four, social liberal, atheist, and not a retail store’, John joined the social network back in November 2007 and bagged the handle @johnlewis.

The UK store followed in March 2010, by which point the less catchy @johnlewisretail was the best thing left, hence many subsequent years of confusion.

John’s witty responses have made him an online sensation over the years – he’s fielded queries on everything from ill-fitting culottes to contactless Partnership cards with good humour and won himself many fans in the process.

Many of his 18,000 followers were braced and ready for the usual Christmas rush of tweets, with John thanking them for their well wishes.

While Buster the boxer has divided opinion among British viewers, the ad brought a smile to John’s face in the wake of the US election.

This is just one example of a classic John response – @johnlewisretail couldn’t have put it better themselves.

We wonder if the retail store would be on board with the below? It only seems fair…

Top image: Buster the Boxer (John Lewis)