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Nice one, Iceland 🙂
It's better than that shit awful Asda one that's on every bastard break.
edit, nevermind
Madness that this gets banned for being political.
Being too political seems vague for an advert like this - seems more a question of ethics?
Lovely. I must admit it affected a purchase I was about to make the other day. Can't remember what it was now but for some reason I looked at the ingredients and saw palm oil. I then thought that it was sugary crap that I was about to buy anyway so just went without.
That's what I thought, it's ethics not politics.
HTF is that political?
Hopefully the ban will just get it even more publicity.
Good work Iceland, though your food is mainly shit.
Powerful little advert.
<p>Beats the crap out of everyone losing their shit over another saccharine John Lewis ad.</p>
Prohibited because it's political lobbying, apparently. It's a rebadged Greenpeace advert.
I can't see anything overtly political about it myself, to be honest.
It was originally produced for Greenpeace
I think the banning has worked out well both for Iceland and for the message. Over 2M views on FB alone.
Win win for Iceland I think!
I guess it's political lobbying because one UK party is really strongly in favour of killing orangutans, or something.
Bloody outrage banning this as political, never been a fan of Iceland (shop, the countrys great except for the whale thing) but good on them for this.
Iceland is a great shop! Ethically they’ve always been loads better than most retailers - as a general rule they just don’t shout about it like some. It’s almost like they’re doing it just because, gosh they believe it’s the right thing to do...😂
How can that be banned for being political? As others have said it’s ethical for sure but why is that bad?
If it makes people think about the issues raised then surely that’s a good thing.
As Drac said it’s a powerful advert.
One of my first part time jobs was for Iceland through the last years of school and whilst at college (about 15 -20 years ago now)
They seemed like even back then they were keen to 'do the right thing', they paid well and were a good company to work for. All of their own brand stuff was organic (and a fuss wasn't made or a premium charged for it) which was a good few years before the other supermarkets got in on the act.
They also pioneered home delivery a good few years before the major supermarkets started doing it.
I think that during the Kerry Katona years and they suffered an image problem and unfortunately gained a reputation associated with Findus Crispy Pancakes and Turkey Twizzlers, but I think that there is a decent company underneath that.
Has the labeling law changed? Some products list palm oil but they can be sneaky and just list 'vegetable oil' which more often than not is actually palm oil..
I think the type of oil has to be named, like in some stuff you'll get 'vegetable oil/s' as an ingredient but in brackets they have the actual type of oil if there's more than one (rapeseed, sunflower, palm, whatever)
edit- looks like the law was changed in 2014 to increase transparency-
Madness that this gets banned for being political.
I suspect Iceland always knew it would be banned; but that was part of the strategy. Now "everyone" is talking about a banned Iceland advert and mentioning / talking about them and their values. Had it gone to TV - the Iceland mention is so subtle at the end it would have been lost/forgotten much more - and would have been referred to as the Palmoil or [O]rangatang advert. Top marks to the marketing department though for engineering such a success!
Iceland were the only supermarket chain not caught up in the horse meat scandal. They may not be everyone’s favourite supermarket, but quietly they try hard to do the right thing.
In that case this is the best bit of marketing they have ever done.
I used to associate them with Kerry and the 10p each sausages they used to sell me when I was skint,
now I'm planning to pop in Monday for some fish fingers just to show my appreciation.
A masterclass in going viral.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Its incredible how many things have it in once you start looking. A nutella sandhich might as well be made straight from dead apes it's go so much in.</span>
The full video has been ruled unacceptable for broadcast. But the full video was never going to be an advert anyway - it's too long, and doesn't fit an ad slot. Iceland only submitted it for vetting because they knew it wouldn't be accepted.
The only organisation that can ban adverts is the Advertising Standards Authority. But advertisers can pre-submit their ads to Clearcast for an adjudication on whether they are likely to run into problems. That's useful for advertisers, as it means they can get their advert checked over before committing money to an advertising campaign.
Clearcast judged that this one broke the rules on political advertising. But that's precisely what Iceland expected, and wanted. They wanted it to be rejected by Clearcast, so that they could say it had been banned, without actually spending money on booking ad slots for it.
But it's a bit disingenuous of them to claim it has been banned, when they knew from the start that it broke the rules and only submitted it to Clearcast so that they could get it rejected.
I saw this on FB, but can find no evidence whatsoever to back any of it up. Anyone able to point to a credible source to debunk it (or confirm it)?
The full video has been ruled unacceptable for broadcast. But the full video was never going to be an advert anyway – it’s too long, and doesn’t fit an ad slot.
It's 1:30. I've just looked at the John Lewis ads for 2015, 2016, 2017 on YouTube. They're all 2:10 long.
Long form ads are fairly normal now, and there will be various shorter cuts done too. I question the credibility of the original writer of that FB post.
Its incredible how many things have it in once you start looking. A nutella sandhich might as well be made straight from dead apes it’s go so much in.
My 7yr old had a bit of an existential dilemma when he found this out. Turns out they use good palm oil...
But the full video was never going to be an advert anyway – it’s too long, and doesn’t fit an ad slot.
It’s 1:30. I’ve just looked at the John Lewis ads for 2015, 2016, 2017 on YouTube. They’re all 2:10 long.
The length relative to the John Lewis advert doesn't help us. In terms of length what we need to know is the length of the youtube Iceland advert relative to the advert that was 'banned'. Did Iceland submit a Greenpeace film, which might have been political get the thumbs down for that, strip it down to 1:30 and release the shortened, non-political advert.
I'd also like to know who 'banned' the advert. If it was Clearcast, can they ban adverts, or are they a private company doing initial checks before submission?
I question the credibility of the original writer of that FB post.
I'm questioning the credibility of what they wrote. That's why I posted in the hope the hive-mind of STW might be able to debunk it or verify it.
It’s the only Christmas advert I’ve seen (and likely the only one I will see) so from a marketing view it’s worked.
Sadly jambo there’s really no such thing as ‘good’ or sustainable palm oil, it all needs some sort of deforestation
I’ve given up on most biscuits and Jaffa Cakes, it’s hard!
The full video has been ruled unacceptable for broadcast. But the full video was never going to be an advert anyway – it’s too long, and doesn’t fit an ad slot.
There’s been a very much longer ones over the years.
But the full video was never going to be an advert anyway – it’s too long, and doesn’t fit an ad slot.
There’s been a very much longer ones over the years.
I presume (perhaps wrongly) that 'full video' refers to the original Greenpeace video, not the advert which (I assume) is a subset of the original video.
But palm oil free peanut butter isn't just for Xmas! Discovering the ~£5 Meridian 1Kg tubs in Sainsburys before the massive price hike a few years ago was a revelation for me, these days I order in bulk from sites like MyProtein for ~£4.30 per tub when they have promo discounts.
But was quite impressed to find and buy a £5 WholeEarth tub in Birkenhead Lidl yesterday, should keep me going during a family visit. 😉
It’s true that they only submitted it to Clearcast and not to the ASA, so there’s a slight of hand going on here for marketing purposes.
Its also true that Iceland sell plenty of products that contain palm oil
They’ve been chatting about this on R5L this morning, full explanation of the political motives and funding and a rep from that “shop” stating they new it would probably be banned but felt the moral to produce it.
In the 30mins discussion something like 2m people watched it ..
The ironic stance I take is the “shop” advocates selling cheap poor grade food to millions, yet is happy to “support” ethically immoral production methods.
Still, every kid under the age of 12 should be forced to watch it, to n part to educate and in part to make them understand what thier parents have supported over the years..
Meridian nut and seed butter is ace. I agree it's difficult giving up biscuits and stuff but you do feel better for cutting out the crap. Have you seen how much crap's in nutella?
So Iceland - I've always associated it with low meat content crap sausages and hyper processed junk food sold for pennies - an even more low budget Asda.
Is is it a shop worth using? Do they sell remotely healthy / decent quality food?
Only place in Ireland to sell vimto so a thumbs up from me.
God, this website is terrible - prehistoric speeds to be able to type , late loading adverts mucking hyperlink choice and the predictive text is banjaxed.
I’ve given up on most biscuits and Jaffa Cakes, it’s hard!
You could learn to make your own alternatives. You'll know exactly what's in them and it's petty easy to make something decent.
More than 50% of european imported palm oil is in biofuels to help hit our fossil fuel reduction targets. If it wasn't palm oil it would be another type of vegetable oil, and it may well be the most efficient way to produce it. UK Forest monoculture is slowly becoming more diversified, I reckon developing countries are going through the same process. It is the developed world that is in control though. We are irresponsible self righteous hyper-mobile NIMBYS in Skoda octavias living too far away from where we work. 1% of us are taking the piss out of the rest.
We are irresponsible self righteous hyper-mobile NIMBYS in Skoda octavias living too far away from where we work.
Speak for yourself.
If it wasn’t palm oil it would be another type of vegetable oil, and it may well be the most efficient way to produce it.
I was thinking this earlier. It's not clear what kind of oil we're supposed to switch to, some kind of animal oil? Another veg oil? Whatever it is we're supposed to switch to, is it more efficient and therefore less demanding of land? If so why aren't manufacturers already using *that* oil? As you say the real story is there's too many of us consuming too much stuff. We're showing no sign of controlling our own population so nature will do it for us when food/energy runs out and we die of hunger, disease and in wars fighting over the remaining dregs of resources.
In the meantime the media are telling us advert was banned when it wasn't, and making a fortune out of it. The reason we have so much fake news is because people prefer it. Sane, balanced stories which stick to the truth just don't sell. 🙁
Out of interest I tried to avoid palm oil when doing a weekly shop earlier. So no biscuits, nothing with pastry (boo) and I was lucky to find a packet of tortilla wraps that didn’t have any.
"and there'll be no palm oil in Africa, this Christmas-time...... Do they know it's Christmas time at all"
It's one of those vile ingredients, like high fructose corn syrup, that when you really start looking, you see in every single thing, from chocolate to soap to shortening etc.
Corn tortillas from Asda don't have any palm oil in and are just as tasty 🙂
edit- Lidl's bakery ingredients are here-
if you like that stuff but want to check for palm oil.
I was thinking this earlier. It’s not clear what kind of oil we’re supposed to switch to, some kind of animal oil? Another veg oil? Whatever it is we’re supposed to switch to, is it more efficient and therefore less demanding of land? If so why aren’t manufacturers already using *that* oil?
I guess nobody has heard of sunflower oil or rapeseed oil, otherwise they might try using that...
Palm oil is solid at room temperature, one of the main reasons its used in biscuits or pastries etc. Not many other vegetable fats are.