Sainsbury's produced a stunning, almost four-minute video commercial for this holiday season. The cinematic spot recreates a historical World War I moment in which, for a day or two in several spots along the front lines, the war paused for Christmas. Both sides were able to meet, play games, talk (as much as they could) and forget, for just a few hours, about why they were there.
We live in a generation that is the first to be born without the stain of both World Wars on our minds. It wasn't too long before World War II picked up where the Great War left off. Just a few decades ago, many Germans continued to live with guilt over their own, or even over their peers' actions even decades before that. But today's youth have grown up not only in a post-World-War society, but in a post-Berlin Wall society. Likewise, today's Russian youth never knew a Soviet Union Russia.
Even so, we may never quite get past the "too soon" era of World War jokes. There's just not much that was actually funny about the events that transpired in the middle of the 1910s or in the first half of the '40s. What we can do, on the other hand, is re-imagine the people involved without a bitterness that may have kept our immediate ancestors from being able to do so, and, in the process, really learn something. After all, 99 percent of those who fought were simply young men who didn't have much of a choice.
Both wars were gruesome, caused massive casualties, and pushed the limits of what we thought was possible. And now, through diaries and letters written about the First World War and temporary cease-fires that gave time for troops to take a break and even meet for the holidays, we can imagine new kinds of human generosity and dignity our parents and grandparents may not have been able to (but that our great, great grandparents apparently could). And leave it to Sainsbury's to give us this beautiful, re-imagined holiday scene that carries an almost uncanny resemblance to a similar scene in this ad's likely inspiration: War Horse.
Check out the BTSV after watching the full ad above:
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Here is the original movie about the true story that took place during the WW1. I highly recommend it, it is in French, German and English...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fighueJTqKs
happy christmas :'(
This ad has got a lot of very bad press here in the UK. Yes, it is touching, but many felt that it was inappropriate to use the theme in an advert especially as this is a poignant year the great war's history. I'm not sure if it's been pulled as I haven't seen it recently.
In the Making Of video you can see my friend Dan talking about being involved in the project.
As Juan said, there has been a bit of controversy on this advert, but I can honestly say none of these guys, who are experts and connected with this story would have taken part if they didn't believe it was a respectful and honest way of telling the story, while raising money for the soldiers and families that have taken part in our wars.
That being said, Dan does need to shave off his moustache because he cant grow a proper one ;)