# Why did people get so upset about the Sainsbury’s/Royal British Legion WW1 advert?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/02/27/title-come/
- Published: 2015-02-27T15:48:02+00:00
- Author: Ian MacQuillin

The horrors of one of Europe’s bloodiest conflicts being co-opted by a big company
simply to sell a product to hundreds of thousands of people. No wonder it generated
so many complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Hang on a moment though, it didn’t. Not a single one.

See, I’m not referring to the Sainsbury’s/Royal British Legion 1914 Christmas Truce
advert that made the [top ten most complained about adverts of 2014](http://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Media-Centre/2015/2014-most-complained-about-ads.aspx)
with 823 complaints – none of which was upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.

## Advertisement

At the [Battle of Waterloo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo) in 
1815, 56 per cent of the French army were killed, wounded or went missing, along
with 25 per cent of the Anglo-Dutch-German army and 14 per cent of the Prussians–
61,000 casualties in a day. Yet Bombardier can use this battle as a basis for a 
humorous campaign to sell beer and no-one bats an eyelid.

**Editor’s note:** _the video previously embedded here (https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=K84fwlUpFZg) is no longer available._

 

Is it that the 99 years difference between Waterloo and Ypres make a moral difference,
somehow? Is it because we’ve forgotten (or perhaps have never really known about)
the horror of combat in the Napoleonic Wars, whereas the slaughter of the Somme 
and the tragedy of Gallipoli have never left our collective consciousness. Or is
there a difference in using historical drama rather than historical comedy – would
Sainsbury’s have got away with a _Blackadder_-style WW1 advert?

Whatever the answer, it seems it’s acceptable to make comedy out of killing French
soldiers 200 years ago to sell beer, but totally beyond the pale to make drama out
of a touching moment with German soldiers 100 years ago to sell chocolate.

Perhaps what we should really be cynical about here is not the advert itself, but
some people’s attitudes to big companies such as Sainsbury’s, an attitude from which
not even a partnership with one of the country’s most revered charities could offer
protection.

For what it’s worth, the Mirror called the Sainsbury’s ad the “[best Christmas advert of all time](http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/watch-best-christmas-adverts-time-4620125)“.

 

_Ian MacQuillin is the director of the [fundraising think tank Rogare](https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/schools/plymouth-business-school/rogare)
at Plymouth University’s Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy._

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