Littlewoods Facebook TV Christmas advert upsets parents
November 25th, 2011 - 7:48 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattLondon, Nov 25 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Furious parents were left with very little options after the Advertising Standards Authority announced that it has no power to pull off an ad by Littlewoods which tells children that Santa Claus is not real. The 40-second ad tells children that it is mum and not Santa who brings in the presents.
The ad has offended many parents because it claims that most of the time the gifts are bought with credit cards. After the ASA said the ad does not break any rule, the angry parents have turned to Facebook for a campaign to get the ad off the screen.
Several comments blame Littlewoods for ‘killing’ the spirit of Santa Claus in the children.
Littlewoods is standing by its advert. The company’s spokesperson told the Daily Mail that, “We would never want to suggest that Santa doesn’t exist. We’re sorry to hear there have been some concerns about our advert. We carried out a lot of research and found families have different Christmas traditions. Some families told us that Santa puts the presents in the stocking while family and friends place gifts under the tree.”
That seems like what the ASA is also saying. The authority ruled that because the ad did not suggest Father Christmas, there is no way an action could be taken against the ad.
The company revealed that the ad has been viewed about 40 million times.
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