Sainsbury’s and Tesco come together for a friendly game of ‘cabbageball’ in Christmas ad parody
A parody of Sainsbury’s First World War Christmas advert has appeared, showing staff from the supermarket bonding with rival Tesco.
The original ad from Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO recreated the story of ‘The Christmas Truce’, when British and German soldiers downed weapons on Christmas Day to play football on the frontline.
Comedy group Hot Gulp’s version takes place in a car park and sees Sainsbury’s worker ‘Sebastian’ steal a chocolate bar from a shelf and venture into the retail park with his co-workers to forge peace with ‘Barry’ and other Tesco staff.
They play football with a cabbage, take selfies and kiss under mistletoe before being called back to the checkouts.
The original ends with a British troop gifting his chocolate bar to a German soldier. In the spoof, Barry is seen excitedly opening the stolen chocolate bar’s wrapper, only to find a few crumbs left, as Sebastian struts off munching on the whole thing.
Sainsbury’s original spot sparked controversy with over 700 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) branding it a “cynical” and a “tasteless” attempt at drumming up sales.
The ASA decided not to investigate the ad, which is said did not break commercial rules, while Sainsbury's maintained the overall response had been "amazing" and "overwhelmingly positive".