This year’s Christmas ad from Sainsbury’s – Christmas is for sharing. Made in partnership with The Royal British Legion, it commemorates the extraordinary events of Christmas Day, 1914, when the guns fell silent and two armies met in no-man’s land, sharing gifts – and even playing football together. In the advert, British and German soldiers both sing the carol Silent Night in their respective languages before crossing No Man’s Land to play football, with one British soldier giving his German counterpart a chocolate bar. While some may question why the supermarket is using WWI as a promotional tool, the advert is a joint venture with the Royal British Legion. A True Story: “The Christmas truce was a series of widespread, unofficial ceasefires that took place along the Western Front around Christmas 1914, during World War I. Through the week leading up to Christmas, parties of German and British soldiers began to exchange seasonal greetings and songs between their trenches; on occasion, the tension was reduced to the point that individuals would walk across to talk to their opposite numbers bearing gifts. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, many soldiers from both sides—as well as, to a lesser degree, from French units—independently ventured into “no man’s land”, where they mingled, exchanging food and souvenirs. As well as joint burial ceremonies, several meetings ended in carol-singing. Troops from both sides were also friendly enough to play games of football with one another, in one of the truce’s most enduring images.”
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 17:17:00 +0000
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