Iceland Christmas advert: Petition to overturn TV ban on animated film surpasses 680,000 signatures
Campaign gathers pace as celebrities throw weight behind plea to allow broadcast
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Your support makes all the difference.A petition to overturn the ban on Iceland’s Christmas advert has amassed over 680,000 signatures.
The 90-second animated short, voiced by Emma Thompson and made in collaboration with Greenpeace, tells the story of a girl who is perturbed by arrival of an orangutan in her bedroom.
The mournful animal later reveals that his home is being destroyed by palm oil growers who are ripping up trees in the rainforest.
“There’s a human in my forest and I don’t know what to do. He took away my mother and I’m scared he’ll take me too,” the great ape says as he highlights the plight of orangutans in their habitat.
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil used in food production, cosmetics and biodiesel and its cultivation is devastating tropical rainforests across southeast Asia. To keep up with high demand for the cheaply produced oil, acres of rainforest are being cut down, leading to a loss of animal habitat for endangered species.
Iceland said in a statement: “Expanding palm oil and wood pulp plantations are the biggest driver of deforestation, many species are being threatened with extinction, including the orangutan, already critically endangered.”
TV presenter and actor James Corden threw his support behind the Change.org petition started by Mark Topps by sharing the clip with his 10.3 million Twitter followers. “This commercial was banned from TV for being too political. I think everyone should see it x,” he said.
Comedian and musician Bailey also tweeted: “I am adding my voice to many who want this to be seen far and wide.”
Environment Secretary Michael Gove praised Iceland for drawing attention to the issue.
“I want to praise Iceland for raising this critical issue,” he tweeted. “The destruction of the rainforest habitat which is home to Orangutans should concern us all.”
Clearcast, the body responsible for vetting adverts, clarified the commercial was not approved for TV because it breeched political advertising rules set in the 2003 Communications Act.
In a blog post Chris Mundy, managing director of Clearcast, clarified that the body did not take issue with the message in Iceland’s advert.
“The ad is based on material made by Greenpeace and has been promoted on the Greenpeace website for some time. Greenpeace need to demonstrate they are not a political advertiser as defined by the Code before Clearcast can approve the ad,” he wrote.
Despite not being broadcast, the advert has been a hit on other platforms. It has over three million views on Iceland’s Youtube page and 13 million views on the company’s Facebook page. It has been retweeted more than 90,000 times on the company’s page.
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