Smyth's Christmas ad praised for 'progressive' message as views hit 6m

Ian Begley

This year’s Christmas Smyth’s Toy advert, which features a boy dressed up as a princess has become a viral hit with many applauding its progressive message.

Amassing nearly six million hits on YouTube alone, the commercial depicts the journey through the imagination of a charming young boy Oscar who becomes enchanted by the toy store before him, using the lyrics of the Beyonce hit ‘If I Were a Boy’ and changing it to ‘If I Were a Toy”.

He sings about all of the toys he would love to play with and envisions himself as a dancer, lego man, motorcyclist and a Millennium Falcon pilot.

Then about 10 seconds into the video Oscar is suddenly seen in a pink princess dress and tiara, waving to furry subjects – singing he’d “be the queen of the land”.

This scene alone has created a wide range of positive comments on Twitter, with one saying it has done a great job of “smashing gender norms”.