Watch the Iceland Christmas ad which will never be shown after authorities banned it

8 December 2020, 11:39

Iceland's Christmas Ad Banned For Being Too Political

Supermarket Iceland's advert for Christmas has been banned for being too political.

The commercial, made with Greenpeace, features an animated orangutan and highlights the destruction of the rainforest by palm oil growers.

The advertising clearance body, Clearcast, who screen broadcast adverts, deemed that the film breaks rules banning political advertising laid down by the 2003 Communications Act.

In 2018, Iceland became the first major UK supermarket to announce they were removing palm oil from all its own-brand products.

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Iceland's founder Malcolm Walker said: "This was a film that Greenpeace made with a voice over by Emma Thompson.

"We got permission to use it and take off the Greenpeace logo and use it as the Iceland Christmas ad. It would have blown the John Lewis ad out of the window. It was so emotional."

The watchdog said in a statement: "Clearcast and the broadcasters have to date been unable to clear this Iceland ad because we concerned that it doesn’t comply with the political rules of the BCAP code.

"The creative submitted to us is linked to another organisation who have not yet been able to demonstrate compliance in this area."

More than 890,000 people have since signed a petition calling for the advert to be shown on TV.