The Animal Welfare Party has made a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over the supermarket chain Lidl’s new Christmas TV ad.

The complaint has been made on the grounds that it breaches section 4.2 of the BCAP code. (4.2 Advertisements must not cause serious or widespread offence against generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards).

AWP’s complaint to the ASA reads:

The voice over on the Lidl ad states: “Turkey, chicken and duck, in one meal. So everybody’s happy. Apart from the turkey, chicken and duck.”

Our organisation finds that this statement trivialises the death of the turkeys, chickens and ducks involved in the product’s production and is therefore offensive. Death, in short, is no laughing matter.

Because between 7 and 11% of the UK population are believed to follow a vegetarian diet, we assert that it is highly likely that between 7 and 11% of viewers also find the ad offensive.

Since 7 to 11% of the audience are likely to be offended, the ad is causing either serious or widespread offence and is therefore in breach of section 4.2 of the BCAP code.

We suggest that the ad be pulled off air before further offense is caused and the voice over re-scripted and re-recorded.

The advertisement has already caused offense, which has led to people voicing their anger on Lidl’s facebook and social media accounts, covered in the Huffington Post.

View the ad:

If you are also offended by the advertisement, you can make a complaint to the ASA here.

Turkey Image (c) Ginger Me