Tesco’s Christmas advert, which features Father Christmas showing a Covid vaccine passport to border security in order to avoid quarantine when entering the country, has become the most complained about advert of the year. The total number of complaints exceeds 1,500, with the Advertising Standards Authority mentioning that many of the complaints said that the advertisement ‘encourages medical discrimination on vaccine status’. Mailonline has more.
It begins outside of a Tesco store, with a customer set on trying to make sure she has everything prepared for Christmas. The advert then follows her on her journey home where she encounters merrymakers overcoming anything that is thrown at them.
But in one scene a reporter appears on TV with the ‘breaking news’ that Father Christmas could be quarantined. He is then shown presenting his Covid vaccine pass at border control, showing he can be let into the country.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the bulk of complaints were from viewers suggesting the festive ad is ‘coercive’ and ‘encourages medical discrimination on vaccine status’.
The U.K. regulator said it is currently investigating the complaints to decide whether to take further action.
A spokesman for the ASA said: “We’ve received over 1,000 complaints regarding this advert.
“We are currently carefully reviewing these complaints to determine whether there are any grounds for further action.
“The large majority of complaints assert that the ad is coercive, and encourages medical discrimination based on vaccine status.”
Following its release at the weekend, anti-vaxxers, including former I’m A Celebrity star Gillian McKeith, launched a #BoycottTesco campaign on social media over its inclusion of a vaccine pass.
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