Jayne Walsh

Presenting the new Sainsbury’s Christmas advert. Made in partnership with The Royal British Legion. Inspired by real events from 100 years ago. This year’s C...

That was the response to the Sainsbury’s Christmas advert of Ed Nash Director of Fylde Veterans CIC, and Mayor of St Annes on the Sea. He also said “Anything that raises money for RBL is OK in my book”.

Love or hate the campaign it is not the first time an organisation has used emotive or shocking subject matter to attract attention.

The advert according to Creative Boom “is a creative interpretation of Christmas Day 1914, when British and German soldiers laid down their arms and came together on neutral territory to share greetings, treats, mementoes and even a game of football.”

(http://creativeboom.co.uk/video/sainsburys-the-royal-british-legion-partner-to-bring-first-world-war-christmas-truce-story-to-life/)

However Ally Fogg of the Guardian claims it is “dangerous and disrespectful”. He criticises the “masterpiece” for beautifying the first world war to cynically “flog groceries”.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/13/sainsburys-christmas-ad-first-world-war

Sainsbury’s have been working in partnership with the Royal British Legion for the past 20 years and money raised from the sale of a chocolate bar featured in the advert will help support veterans.

The controversy around the advert reflects changes of opinion within the creative industry caused partly by topical criticism of the current model of Western capitalism. Adrian Shaughnessy is a British designer who writes that the global financial crisis has caused a

“…growing revulsion for the pursuit of money and a rekindling of interest in the common good” and  “society has come to regard ethical conduct as an essential of the new business and cultural landscape”

(Shaugnessy, A. (2010). How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul. London, U.K.: Laurence King Publishing Ltd).

Tibor Kalman was a highly influential designer, thinker and editor in chief at Colors, the Benetton magazine. He has been described as the conscience of design during the 1980s and 1990s and was worried about the use of powerful tools of communication and what influence they were having in the world.

Kalman described good design as ‘unexpected’ and ‘untried’ as it adds more interest and was a benefit to everyday life. Does the Sainsbury’s advert pass that test? He believed that graphic design is mass communication and should be used to increase public awareness of a variety of social issues.

(Heller, S. (1999). Tibor Kalman Biography. Retrieved November 8, 2011, from AIGA: http://www.aiga.org/medalist-tiborkalman/)

Stacia Briggs writing for EDP24 points out that

“it’s the fact that we as a country don’t make the necessary arrangements to ensure our veterans live out the rest of their lives without worrying how they’ll pay the next heating bill”

(http://www.edp24.co.uk/norfolk-life/opinion_don_t_moan_at_sainsbury_s_christmas_tv_advert_try_our_government_instead_1_3850226)