Sainsbury’s ad more effective than a Hollywood movie

Just when I thought there was no way Monty the Penguin could be upstaged in the battle of the Christmas adverts, along comes the most heart-rending one of all.

The Sainsbury’s festive commercial is inspired by the 1914 truce when German and British soldiers stopped fighting and played an impromptu game of football.

It tells the entire story in just over three minutes, more poignantly and effectively than a two-hour long Hollywood movie.

In fact, most of the Christmas adverts this year are better than some of the actual TV programmes. As well as the John Lewis penguin, we have Jools Holland having an Aldi party; there’s a hard-working nurse in the Boots advert who comes home after her shift on Christmas Day to find the whole family have travelled from far and wide to recreate Christmas for her; and Waitrose has a little girl making gingerbread biscuits for her school Xmas fete.

The Sainsbury’s advert was screened just days after the deeply-moving Armistice Day services to mark 100 years since WW1, which makes the content resonate even more. The makers of the advert worked closely with the British Legion to make sure every detail was historically correct.

Obviously this is all about advertising a supermarket and the makers could be accused of exploitation, but having watched the advert carefully, I think that they have managed to be respectful.Of course it in no way depicts the sheer horror of WW1 but it does show that all of the soldiers sent to fight, and often to die, were basically all the same no matter what side they were fighting for.

It also brings home the true spirit of Christmas that existed for a very brief time in no-mans land during that terrible war, and hopefully it will make people stop and remember all of the sacrifices made. It made me think of my mum, every Christmas she uses poppies she had has kept over the years to decorate her tree. It is her way of paying tribute to the fallen and it is more appropriate than chocolate Santas.

So fair play to Sainsbury’s for not only making a really effective advert, but also for raising funds for the Royal British Legion and for making sure we remember what is important this Christmas.