Advertising watchdog slams Poundland for saucy social media campaign
A saucy social media campaign by single price retailer Poundland has fallen foul of the advertising watchdog, which branded the adverts offensive and irresponsible as they could easily be seen by children.
A series of posts on Poundland’s Twitter and Facebook pages, promoting the #ElfBehavingBad campaign, ran during December and attracted widespread complaints for their content and sexual innuendo.
The first ad was posted on December 11 and featured an image of a toy elf and a bottle of de-icer placed in front of a car windscreen which featured a drawing of a pair of breasts in the ice. The caption stated, “Oh Elf, we know it’s nippy outside but not that kind of nippy! #ElfBehavingBad”.
This was followed the next day by a second ad, which this time featured an image of the toy elf in a sink filled with bubbles sitting with two female dolls, taking a selfie. The caption stated “Rub-a-dub-dub, three in a tub. A night of ‘Selfies and chill’. #ElfBehavingBad”.
On December 13, an advert appeared featured a moving graphic of the toy elf with a toothbrush placed between its legs whilst motioning back and forth. The caption stated, “That’s one way to scratch that itch. That’s not Santa’s toothbrush is it?!”.
A tweet, posted on December 15 – the day after the release of the latest Star Wars film, The Last Jedi, featured an image of the toy elf holding a spherical shaped object and a Darth Vader toy holding a lightsaber. The caption stated, “Buzz off Darth, my lightsaber is bigger than yours”.
This was followed by a further five ads, published during the period December 16-21, including one which featured an image of the toy elf sitting on a toy donkey’s back with the caption, “Don’t tell Rudolph I’ve found a new piece of ass” and one with an elf next to a drawing of a phallic-shaped tree with the caption, “That’s one very prickly Christmas tree”.
The Advertising Standards Authority said the campaign attracted 85 complaints, mainly for their offensive content and the fact that they could easily be seen by children.
Responding to the criticism, Poundland said the campaign was intended to be humorous, with the use of double entendres in line with the British sense of humour.
It claimed the inferences would not be understood by children and that Twitter and Facebook both had policies which prevented under-13s from creating accounts on their websites.
Poundland also said that a poll conducted on Twitter showed 82% of a sample audience containing over 12,000 responders supported the campaign. The results were almost equally split between men and women.
It stated: “A large number of people found the campaign to be humorous, engaging, and in line with what it meant to be British.”
Nevertheless, the ASA upheld the complaints.
It said: “We concluded the ads, which depicted the toy figures in a sexualised manner and appeared in an untargeted medium where they could be seen by children, were irresponsible and were likely to cause serious or widespread offence.”
It ordered that the ads must not appear again in their current form and that in future, Poundland should ensure its advertising was presented with a sense of responsibility that did not cause serious or widespread offence.
