A petition to show Iceland’s Christmas advert hits more than 670,000 signatures.
The advert was removed from TV screens when it was not approved because it breached political advertising rules. The advert highlighted the impact of palm oil on the rain-forest and orangutan, it has gone viral on social media. The advert was also dedicated to the 25 orangutans we lose every day. The advert is emotional, but it gives everyone the idea of what does on in rain-forests all around the world. The advert shows a devastating journey of Rang-utan being forced to leave her home after it being chopped down, this resulted her to hide in a girls bedroom as her habitat is destroyed. TV presenter James Corden shared the ad on twitter where it has reached more than 15 million views.
The advert was released on social media on Friday by the supermarket Iceland, the supermarket did this to show everyone the advert and to tell the story why it will not be on TV. The advert was originally made by the environmental organisation Greenpeace, this is the main reason it did not approve as it is the law not to advertise political issues on TV. The Iceland team had decided to remove palm oil from their own-labelled products by the end of the year; therefore, they teamed up with Greenpeace for the advert.
It has been said by Clearcast that many people have contacted them regarding the advert and telling them how they feel it is wrong that it is considered political. Clearcast do not have the power to ban the advert and just decides whether adverts meet the rules of the law. The only people that can ban adverts are the Advertising Standards Authority and communications regulator Ofcom.
The reaction of the advert is huge. The ad has had three million views on the Iceland’s YouTube channel, thirteen million views on their Facebook page and over ninety thousand retweets on the Twitter. A petition on change.org was set up called “release Iceland’s banned Christmas advert on TV” and has 670 thousand signatures and more by the day. The ad being banned has made more publicity for the supermarket; if it had gone to air it is said that it would have been a great conversation for people to have and may lead to more understanding of current situations.
The views have tripled the views it had from the 2017 advert, these are just from the YouTube channel. The advert has touched millions of people around the world and has given the reality of what is happening in the world. The company’s tweeted : “You won’t see our Christmas advert on TV this year, because it was banned. But we want to share Rang-tan’s story with you… Will you help us share the story?” and they linked the ad onto the tweet, this is how everyone fell in love with the advert.
Iceland had spent £500,00 on putting the campaign together and insisted it had a number of booked TV slots ready to show. The advert campaign was brought to Iceland’s attention by Greenpeace but they did not have the funds to show the advert, this is when Iceland decided to partner with the charity for the advert.
