Watch Iceland’s banned Christmas TV advert

Supermarket Iceland has shared its Christmas advert which has been banned from TV.

The campaign has been branded ‘too political for TV’ and barred from airing on screen.

The ad, made with the help of Greenpeace, features an animated orangutan and focuses on the destruction of its rainforest habitat due to the use of palm oil.

Iceland’s founder, Malcolm Walker said: “This was a film that Greenpeace made with a voice over by Emma Thompson.

“We got permission to use it and take off the Greenpeace logo and use it as the Iceland Christmas ad. It would have blown the John Lewis ad out of the window. It was so emotional.”

However the advert has fallen foul of laws that prevent political advertisements.

A spokeswoman for Clearcast, which vets adverts that appear on UKTV, said: “Clearcast and the broadcasters have to date been unable to clear this Iceland ad because we concerned that it doesn’t comply with the political rules of the BCAP [broadcast code for advertising practice] code.

“The creative submitted to us is linked to another organisation who have not yet been able to demonstrate compliance in this area.”

The advert follows Iceland’s pledge to cut palm oil from its own-brand products.

Richard Walker, son of Iceland founder Malcolm, said: “We wanted [the Greenpeace film] to be our signature campaign. We have said repeatedly we are not anti-palm oil, we are anti-deforestation.

“We think this is a huge story that needs to be told. We always knew there was a risk [the clip would not be cleared for TV] but we gave it our best shot.”

Although the video has been banned from TV, it’s been uploaded to YouTube.

Iceland captioned the 90 second clip: “You won’t see our Christmas advert on TV this year. But we want to share our ‘No Palm Oil’ story with you this Christmas. Say hello to Rang-tan.”