Has Sainsbury's 1914 Christmas truce ad exploited memory of war? Sainsbury's, is mired in its own form of 21st Century commercial trench warfare with the German supermarket Aldi. But by dramatizing the 1914 First World War truce between the "Tommy" and "Boche" soldiers to sell us more mince pies and turkey this Christmas, it has gone too far. True, the company's latest festive commercial is a beautifully shot piece. It could almost be a Hollywood remake of the classic film "All quiet on the Western Front," except that the important message of war being the most pointless waste of young life is entirely washed into the background of history by the ad's real purpose, which is to make Sainsbury's money. Of course, Sainsbury's isn't the first company to commercialise the horror of war to sell a product. Many television advertisements have featured scenes from battlefields, or military imagery, to market to a particular audience. Beyond literature, the 1914-18 conflict - known as the war to end all wars - has also provided the backdrop and inspiration for musical artists such as Paul McCartney. But there was a message beyond pure capitalism in McCartney's song "Pipes of Piece," from which Sainsbury's and its advertising agency appear to have drawn their inspiration. The supermarket argues that the advert, which shows a British soldier handing his hungry German counterpart a bar of chocolate while their comrades play football in no man's land, is intended to reflect the theme of sharing at Christmas and act as a tribute to the spirit of humanity displayed in the unofficial truce. Profits from the sale of the chocolate bar featured in the ad will even go to the Royal British Legion, but why did Sainsbury's not choose simply to make an anonymous donation directly from the profits at the tills to veterans" organisations? Sainsbury's has chosen the wrong moment, 100 years after the first shots were fired in the Great War, to exploit the memory of this bitter conflict in such a blatantly commercial fashion. Although the truce between the opposing sides did happen during the winter of 1914, it was frowned upon by the military leadership of both nations who wanted the slaughter to end quickly. It's actually disputed whether the football match ever took place. By constructing an artificially sentimental plot of hands reaching out across the trenches at Christmas, Sainsbury's has distorted history in the tradition of Hollywood blockbusters such as Titanic and Braveheart in order to provoke an emotive response to buy. Although, many will applaud the company for placing remembrance at the centre of its Christmas campaign, did the supermarket really need to airbrush and exploit our history to boost festive earnings?