Sainsbury’s Christmas ad from 2014 is extremely effective due to the emotional story line. The advert retells the story of Christmas Day 2014 when British and German soldiers left their trenches to exchange gifts and play football. Sainsbury's teamed up with the Royal British Legion for the advert, with all profits from the £1 chocolate bar that appears in the advert going to the veteran's charity.
At the time of its release, it was seen as a counter-offensive against the John Lewis penguin and boy advert due to its emotional story line and the massive response. The advert evokes empathy from the audience as Christmas is often seen as a special time of year where people can come together and share moments of kindness. The advert reflects this and the audience may be able to relate to this sentiment.
In its first 12 hours of going online, the advert reached over 25,000 views on Sainsbury's official YouTube channel, in comparison with the 2014 John Lewis ad which reached 19,500.
The advert had a lot of positive feedback, with, of course, some negatives too, but the director of fundraising for the British Legion said that "the ad is extremely powerful. A number of things really stuck on me, one is the attention to detail that's gone into the historical research".
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