By Steve Taggart
Surprised visitors and commuters across the UK had to double take at the sudden appearance of strange gift-wrapped figures on the street as they made their way into some of England’s major cities.
The festive figures, which appeared overnight in Liverpool, London and Brighton, were actually iconic statues beautifully gift-wrapped as part of ‘People for Presents’ – a new campaign by giffgaff that encourages people to put their phones down this Christmas and give the gift of themselves.
A piece of research commissioned by the mobile network provider, via YouGov, showed a staggering 85% of the British public (81% in London) would rather spend time with their family and friends this Christmas than receive any sort of gift.
The project is in stark contrast to a growing Christmas retail trend of big budget TV spots pushing a commercial message, and the newly imported “Black Friday” from the USA. It appears that the British public still value family over material objects.
The statues wrapped up for Christmas included Olympic hero Steve Ovett on Brighton Seafront, The Cavern Club’s John Lennon statue in Liverpool, the installation ‘In Town’ in Battersea and the iconic statues in Brixton Station.
If you’re interested in wrapping yourself up this Christmas, giffgaff have created a handy instruction video that’ll show you how to gift yourself to your loved ones.
You can follow the campaign via #peopleforpresents on social and via @giffgaff