Children’s author accuses John Lewis of using the plot of a book he wrote 17 years ago in memory of his late son to make their Venus fly-trap Christmas advert

An Irish children’s author has accused John Lewis of ‘using his book plot’ to make its Venus fly tap Christmas advert with the story he wrote in memory of his son who died.

Joe O’Brien’s tale Alfie Green and the Fly-Trapper, published in 2006, tells the story of a young boy called Alfie, who creates a giant Venus fly-trap using a magic book and names it Snapper. 

This year’s John Lewis advert also features a boy called Alfie and his Venus fly-trap, who is also called Snapper. 

John Lewis has said its creative team were unaware of Mr O’Brien’s 17-year-old book and said the similarities are ‘coincidental’. The store said it carried out checks before publishing and the book did not come up in searches relating to similar tales.

However, Mr O’Brien has said he is ‘hurt’ by the whole saga, particularly because his series of Alfie Green books were all written in memory of Ethan. 

‘My Alfie Green books are all dedicated to the memory of my son Ethan, which makes all of this huge coincidence hurt the more,’ Mr O’Brien told the Irish Independent, adding he was ‘devastated’.

Mr O’Brien first learnt of the advert while in the car with his daughter, who said: ‘Daddy, your book is on the radio’. 

There are several differences between the two versions, such as Snapper attacking the family dog in the Christmas advert when in the book it attacks the cat. 

While John Lewis’s Alfie lives in a single-parent family with his mother, grandmother and sibling, Alfie in the book lives with his mother, father and grandmother.

And the advert is centred around the theme of Christmas, as Alfie is gifted a seed to ‘grow your own Christmas tree’ which instead turns into Venus fly-trap Snapper. 

However in the book, which was published in 2006, Alfie uses the tree to treat an infestation of flies but it eats too many – and it is not set at Christmas time. 

Still, Mr O’Brien argued that his book was published ‘long before the John Lewis Christmas advert story’ – and he’s now seeking accreditation for the work. 

He claimed his book is in ‘all the schools and libraries in Ireland’ and has been read by ‘thousands’ of children in countries all around the world. He added he was upset that such a ‘huge coincidence’ could happen.

Femail understands the advert was originally pitched with a girl as the main character. 

It is also understood that the creative team had carried out extensive online searches before the advert was pitched and were never made aware of Mr O’Brien’s book. 

A spokesperson for John Lewis said: ‘We’re very sorry to hear of Mr O’Brien’s concerns, especially given the circumstances of his book. 

‘We’ve offered to speak to Mr O’Brien to reassure him that neither we nor any of the creative team working on our ad were aware of the book during any stage of the creative process and that any connection is coincidental.’

Mr O’Brien has written 14 books, nine of which centre the character Alfie Green. 

MailOnline has approached the author’s publisher The O’Brien Press for comment.