Should this advert be banned from the UK tv for being too political?






Major retailers enter a battle every Christmas to make us cry with their saccharine seasonal ads – but this year we already have a clear winner.

Concern about our planet has never been greater, thanks to last month’s UN report warning that we have 12 years to stop irreversible damage to the Earth. Yet, one month on, a supermarket’s Christmas advert showing the damage palm oil is doing to the natural world has been deemed too political to put on TV. If that doesn’t make you weep, I’m not sure what will.

Iceland repackaged a short film by Greenpeace showing the destruction of an orangutan’s rainforest habitat due to palm oil growers. Palm oil is about as unsustainable as it gets, and contributes to habitat loss and the endangerment of species, including elephants, rhinos, tigers and orangutans.


In a move that has been widely criticised, Clearcast, which approves ads on behalf of broadcasters including Sky, Channel 4 and ITV, says it couldn’t clear the Iceland ad against the rules of the Broadcast Code of Advertising Practice. The Advertising Standards Authority, which has the authority to rule on Clearcast’s decisions, says it has had “no role” in this case.

I think it's clever. It will go viral after being banned, probably intentional. Good advert 

Really don't think it should have been banned. But banning it makes more people watch it.

I was confused why Brits were so upset about an ad in Iceland, until I realized it wasn't the country

I was confused why Brits were so upset about an ad in Iceland, until I realized it wasn't the country

"Lol" @Redtunnel u not have an Iceland frozen foods shop then 


Really cleverly put together don't think they should ban it "save the planet and all", will get out there anyway!

I'm obviously not familiar with the laws over there, but it seems odd to me to ban an ad for "being too political."

I get tired of ads trying to sell useless products or overhyped brands for materialistic reasons. Ads like this that have a clear humanistic purpose have a greater impact than anything. One has no meaning, one does, yet the one with actual substance and an actual goal gets banned. Frustrating to me lol.

On a less apparent controversial note... I thought the ad was effective and I'd be lying if I said it didn't get to me.

Nothing wrong with this in my opinion, it highlights some very important issues and doesn't try to discredit any specific companies

I'm obviously not familiar with the laws over there

Adverts over here are controlled extremely. There are so many rules to follow.

Most banned adverts to go viral anyway. People want to see why it was banned so look it up...It might be even better for the AD this way since we can Sky+, catch-up TV and tend to skip adverts/not pay attention to them.

This is really interesting to me, because I just don't see anything wrong with it. 

I really love the advert. I saw it floating around facebook yesterday and it did pull at my heart strings.

I agree that by banning it, it will get more attention so I think this was maybe their plan all along Good job to them!

I don't think it should be banned for taking a political stance

I don't get why it got banned considering all tv adverts are gambling related these days

From the BBC:

A petition to get Iceland's Christmas advert shown on TV has reached more than 670,000 signatures.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-46187070

Unexpected publicity bonus for Iceland! Shame their food isn't up to much