M&S's new Status Quo advert sparks mixed reaction from customers

Marks and Spencer has revisited a classic rock ‘n roll song in its new advert - much to the amusement and horror of customers.

The retailer debuted a collaboration with Status Quo, who wrote a new version of its famous song Rockin’ All Over The World to promote M&S’s new price cuts and price lock.

M&S announced it cut the prices of 65 products in January, after cutting the price of more than 200 products in October. For example, the cost of frozen strawberries have been reduced by 22%, from £3.50 down to £2.50, while a pack of five organic fairtrade bananas have gone from £1.90 to £1.60.

The advert, which shows Status Quo singing lines like “Remarksable [sic] value means that prices are low” and “Saving all over the store” to the tune of their popular song, was released on Wednesday 24 January to promote its new prices.

It has garnered mixed reactions from shoppers on social media. On X, formerly Twitter, one person wrote: "So cringy! Do love M&S though but this lol [cry-laughing emoji]."

Another said the advert made them feel "physically unwell", while a third added: "I don’t want to watch the M&S Status Quo video, please don’t make me."

But others found the reworked song rather catchy and praised the advert as "brilliant".

"Absolutely brilliant! I totally agree. ‘The prices are low but the quality’s whoa’," one person posted on X.

Another viewer said they were "fully behind" the idea, while a third recalled that his wife had been in the same M&S store when the advert was being filmed.

He wrote: "I have loved Status Quo since I was a kid and the wife came home the other day saying she [saw] an old man in M&S and he was singing Rockin’ All Over The World and he was cool and amazing.

"I thought it must just be a random guy and it turns out it’s my f***ing idol. I’m gutted."

However, another viewer who claimed they were also in the store at the same time Status Quo filmed the advert said: “It was sooo bad I had to leave the store.

“Whoever thought it was a good idea needs a career change. I was convinced it was a cringy tribute band.”

Either way, it appears Status Quo thoroughly enjoyed rewriting the song for M&S, with lead singer Francis Rossi telling Louder/Classic Rock Magazine: “They say you don’t need to reinvent the classics, but we had a lot of fun re-recording one of our greatest hits for M&S.

“All thanks to a suggestion from a lovely lad called Jack - apparently he’s done several viral videos about how good value M&S Food is, so we thought we’d beat him at his own game.”

Rossi was referring to Jack Norbury, a retail sales manager from Wiltshire who runs the official TikTok account for the M&S branch in the town of Devizes.

Rossi added: “It’s not every day you get a call saying the marketing director at M&S Food has asked you to re-record one of your greatest hits for them.

“But sure, why not? Their new Purley Way store is my closest so the wife and I have been in there quite a bit - big fan of their Our Best Ever prawn sandwich, I must say.”

Read more about M&S:

• How to eat 30 plants a week to boost gut health, according to Tim Spector (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)

• M&S's best-selling jeans are flattering, comfy and only £25 (Yahoo Life UK, 2-min read)

• These ‘great value’ M&S elasticated wide leg trousers are flying off shelves (Yahoo Life UK, 3-min read)