World War I-Themed Christmas Advert

[V.C. Brunswick]

The British supermarket chain Sainsbury's produced this touching Christmas advert for 2014 based on the 1914 Christmas Truce. I thought about posting it in the "Favorite Commercials" thread but felt that it deserved its own thread.

 

[Fading Fast]

Thank you for posting. This is one of my favorite historical events of all time. Yes, as with everything, there are highly educated, too-clever-by-a-half people who can deconstruct the human spirit out of anything and, yes, not everything surrounding this event fits the spirit-lifting narrative perfectly, but it did happen. Soldiers on both sides, for a moment of shared camaraderie and good will, met, played soccer and didn't make war at Christmas time. I am moved every time I think about it.

 

[Edward]

Beautifully shot, isn't it? Reminds me a lot of the French film, Joyeux Noel. Still unsure how I feel about it being used as an advertisement for a shop, though, even if the product it shows is one being sold for a (sadly somewhat politicised, now) charity. As a historical event, though, it represents a triumph of the human spirit over the orders of powerful men, for just that one day. A glimpse into how different life could have been for the poor bastards in the trenches if people much farther up the tree had had a bit more humanity in them.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

This appears to include some additional footage that didn't make it into the advert.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

 

[MikeKardec]

Here's a couple of links of an artist I used to work with, Greg Manchess, talking about doing a campaign on the same subject.

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-07-24T02:00:00-04:00&max-results=20&start=18&by-date=false

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2014/08/rise-as-one-continued.html

 

[31 Model A]

The German officer with the moustache was the German line officer in the movie, The Lost Battalion.

Even though the Christmas Truce of 1914 was a great event between adversaries, IMO, I believe no commercial advert should be made or used to their advantage. Politicians do it enough, no need for a private enterprise/company to follow suit.