That’s why ad regulators don’t go to Iceland

“There’s a Rang-tan in my bedroom, and I don’t know what to do”, begins Iceland’s Christmas advert. The ‘Rang-tan’ takes offence to various household objects such as chocolate and shampoo before explaining that it is in the bedroom because its home in the rainforest has been destroyed by mankind in order to make room for palm oil plantations.

The advert ends with a dedication to the 25 orangutans killed every day, and a pledge that Iceland will stop using palm oil in its own brand products. While the use of an adult narrator to voice both a child and an orangutan does give the advert a slightly strange undertone, this advert would not seem out of place amongst the many feel good Christmas ads put out this year by companies from all sectors.

One might therefore be surprised (or not, depending on how closely you pay attention to the news) to discover that Clearcast, the agency responsible for approving adverts for commercial television channels, took exception to the ad and refused to approve it for broadcast. Under the Communications Act 2003, adverts which are directed towards influencing a political discussion, or are promoted by a group who are mainly political in nature are banned.

The original tweet of the advert has been retweeted 92,000 times and the advert has been viewed 5 million times on YouTube 

However, as this restriction only applies to television and radio, there was nothing to stop Iceland from uploading their advert to YouTube and sharing it far and wide, as they did at the start of November. While viewers everywhere might groan and shake their heads at the thought of a Christmas advert being released a month and a half before Christmas, the news that such an innocuous advert had been banned unleashed a surprising storm of social media support.

The original tweet of the advert has been retweeted 92,000 times and the advert has been viewed 5 million times on YouTube. At the time of writing, a petition to air the advert had 974,000 signatures. Iceland’s Twitter feed is filled with tweets about palm oil free products, and the model orangutans they have been sending around the country in a search for a new home. It is clear that in refusing to allow the advert to be aired, Clearcast have given it a boost that allows it to stand clear from the various festive adverts which dominate advert breaks in winter.

However, as with many news stories today, there is more than meets the eye. While the advert has doubtlessly done good work raising awareness of the plight of orangutans, gaining approval from celebrities such as Bill Bailey and Stephen Fry, it has also unleashed a significant amount of ill-feeling towards Clearcast. The regulator was forced to take down its Facebook page after receiving an unprecedented amount of abuse, also having to remove staff pictures from its website and shut its switchboard after both were circulated on Twitter.

…there is no indication in the advert that it is Christmas at all 

The issue wasn’t helped by Iceland, whose original tweet stated that the advert was banned for being “too political”. In fact, Clearcast refused the advert due to Iceland’s partnership with Greenpeace who had used the animation extensively previously and, as a political organisation, are prohibited from commissioning television adverts.

While the decision to remove palm oil from all their own brand products can only be a good thing, criticism has been levelled at Iceland for the way that they have misrepresented the situation in order to make their advert go viral. The managing director of Clearcast, Chris Mundy, told The Guardian newspaper that: “the winner has been the environmental message that has been widely shared. From Clearcast’s perspective, it’s a shame that the team has, to an extent, been collateral damage in getting the message out.”

Our television screens are no strangers to adverts centred around feel-good themes such as family and friendship in the run up to Christmas, with the John Lewis Christmas advert in particular being the subject of much anticipation and commentary. It is interesting that Iceland has not chosen a particularly festive themed message for their annual Christmas advert. Indeed, there is no indication in the advert that it is Christmas at all. However, their message has received far more attention than they could have expected at its inception.