© Provided by The Press Association (Sean Dempsey/PA)

American academic John Lewis has received a large box of gifts from the UK department store of the same name after he politely tolerated another year of Twitter feedback to the retailer’s Christmas advert.

Mr Lewis, a computer science teacher from Blacksburg, Virginia, whose @JohnLewis Twitter account has 19,800 followers, has become a festive tradition for many who enjoy his unfailingly polite responses to customers who either berate or congratulate him for the John Lewis Christmas campaign.

Received a huge package from @johnlewisretail including this amazing embroidered cushion. So cool! Thank you very much! pic.twitter.com/cIMAvPol5D

— John Lewis (@johnlewis) November 15, 2016

His Twitter bio reads “Computer science educator, father of four, social liberal, atheist, and not a retail store.”

But this year Mr Lewis once again tolerated an onslaught of tweets about the latest “Buster the Boxer” advert featuring a party of animals testing out a new trampoline, responding with the line: “Saw the ad, giggled, then opened twitter and ended in tears.”

He told one man who congratulated him on the advert: “Thanks! The one from @johnlewisretail is good, too.”

The package included a stuffed Buster, Sid, and Olivia from the ad, as well as Christmas crackers, ornaments, and wrapping paper! pic.twitter.com/YnP3QAwFX9

— John Lewis (@johnlewis) November 15, 2016

He 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, replying: “I can give you first shot at the clothes I can’t fit into any more, but that’s about it.”

I will try, somehow, to not take this personally. @johnlewisretailhttps://t.co/8JJwhisU1C

— John Lewis (@johnlewis) November 12, 2016

On Tuesday, he posted a picture of the large box of gifts John Lewis sent him for his troubles, including 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!”

John Lewis – the department store – said the latest advert had been viewed more than 52 million times on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube alone and shared more than one million times on social media – a 182% increase already on total views of last year’s advert.

Thank you. I'm in the same boat: between politics and Christmas ads, my productivity has bottomed out. https://t.co/AHYdz2mnhZ

— John Lewis (@johnlewis) November 14, 2016