Nostalgia has always been a powerful weapon in the advertiser’s arsenal. However, in the midst of a major conflict, Player’s choice of this particular image is interesting. Is the plump evening -suited chap, pipe firmly clamped, recalling his South African War service of the previous decade, his Officer Training Corps days at public school or reflecting on current events?
This advertisement is very much a transitional one. Aimed at the established middle-aged male, it uses the sort of fellow featured in Player’s prewar text adverts extolling the virtues of his pipe and tobacco. Warfare remains the prerogative of the regular Army and Navy supplemented by patriotic volunteers; conscription lies in the future not arriving until January 1916.
The scene of chaps in action amidst peaceful fields and leafy trees contrasts with the stark photographs we now associate with the First World War. The gun crew working together under the kindly direction of be-capped officers might almost be servicing some new-fangled piece of agricultural machinery rather than waging war. Seen from the security of the Club armchair it is an enticing sanitized scene, capturing an optimism the modern viewer may wonder at. As the smoke fades a cosy, ordered world remains, secured by the sacrifice of cigarette -smoking youth – and turning a profit.