US scientist called John Lewis who is bombarded by tweets about department store’s Christmas ad every year receives festive hamper from retailer
Mr Lewis, whose @JohnLewis Twitter account has 19,800 followers, has become a festive tradition for many who enjoy his polite responses to mistaken social media users
AN ACADEMIC named John Lewis has received a massive box of gifts from the department store which shares his name after he once again politely tolerated another year of Twitter feedback following the release of the retailer's Christmas advert.
US-based Mr Lewis, a computer science teacher from Blacksburg, Virginia, gets inundated with tweets every year because his Twitter handle is @JohnLewis, boasting 19,800 followers.
Enjoying his unfailingly polite responses to customers who either slam or praise him for the John Lewis Christmas campaign has become something of a festive tradition for social media users.
His Twitter bio reads: "Computer science educator, father of four, social liberal, atheist, and not a retail store."
And this year Mr Lewis once again tolerated an onslaught of tweets about the latest "Buster the Boxer" advert.
The festive advert features a party of animals testing out a new trampoline.
He told one man who congratulated him on the advert: "Thanks! The one from @johnlewisretail is good, too."
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The good-humoured academic also responded to a customer who complained that scenes of a father assembling the trampoline ruined the spirit of Christmas with the response: "You're a Grinch! Santa was running behind, dropped off the trampoline and asked Dad for a little help."
Mr Lewis was even asked by one Twitter user if she could do some free shopping in the women's department.
He replied: "I can give you first shot at the clothes I can't fit into any more, but that's about it."
Today he posted a picture of the large box of gifts John Lewis sent him for his troubles.
The box included a cushion emblazoned with the words: Merry Christmas @johnlewis "not a retail store".
Captioning the picture, he wrote: "Received a huge package from @johnlewisretail including this amazing embroidered cushion. So cool! Thank you very much!"
The department store said the latest advert had been viewed more than 52 million times on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube alone.
It has been shared more than one million times on social media - a 182% increase already on total views of last year's advert.