Poundland reprimanded over ‘naughty Elf on the Shelf’ campaign

Poundland has received a ticking off from the UK’s advertising regulator over its ‘naughty Elf on the Shelf’ social media campaign.

The discount retailer has been banned from using the #ElfBehavingBadly photos and captions again in their current form, following an investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The off-colour tweets, which portrayed the festive children’s character in a variety of unwholesome situations, made headlines in the run-up to Christmas.

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Although some criticised the campaign as tasteless and sexist, many others hailed the company’s embrace of blue humour as refreshingly un-PC.

The ASA was not among the fans, however. The regulator, which received 85 complaints about the ad campaign, ruled that Poundland was “irresponsible” to share the sexualised images where they could easily be seen by children.

Photos showing the elf “thrusting a toothbrush between its legs” and “waving a vibrator” were “obvious references to sexual acts,” the regulator said.

A particularly contentious tweet which featured the elf “holding a tea bag between its legs with a female doll lying beneath it” was also “a reference to a sexual act”, the ASA added.

The discount chain told the regulator that “a large number of people found the campaign to be humorous, engaging, and in line with what it meant to be British”.

Poundland also argued that Twitter and Facebook both have policies designed to prevent under-13s from having an account. However, the ASA found that children were nonetheless likely to have seen the widely-shared posts.

“A 2017 Ofcom report found that nearly a quarter of eight to 11-year-olds now had a presence on social media sites,” the BBC reports.

Poundland responded to the ruling by launching a social media campaign urging fans of ‘Elfie’ to petition the ASA to lift the ban: