Poundland's 'naughty elf' campaign banned

Poundland’s controversial pre-Christmas Elf Behaving Badly social media campaign has been labelled "irresponsible" by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The retailer has been told the series of ads must not appear again and that it must ensure its advertising is presented with "a sense of responsibility" and in a way that "did not cause serious or widespread offence".

One image featured the elf dangling a teabag over a female doll, simulating a sex act. The ASA ruled that this and eight other images breached its code of practice for advertisers. These were, it said, available on "ungated" websites and therefore viewable by anyone, including children. Some of the posts may also have been seen as demeaning to women, it added.

A total of 84 complaints were received by the ASA. Poundland argues that the campaign is all about double entendres, and that Twitter and Facebook had policies designed to prevent under-13s from creating accounts. It has posted a message from the now locked up elf, stating, “At least it’s only 84 people who had a sense of humour failure compared to the tens of thousands who got the joke and liked and shared my posts online.” It has also backed an online petition entitled, Clear Poundland Elfie's Name, declaring that, “Britain’s the home of saucy postcards, Carry On films and panto”.

And tea bagging jokes on social media, apparently...