Poundland Investigated Over Naughty Christmas Elf Ad Campaign

Poundland knows a thing or two about a memorable Christmas marketing campaign.

What did the company do at the tail-end of 2017? Bedeck a giant £ in baubles and tinsel? No.

Slash prices with Santa's sleigh? Nope.

Draw a picture of an elf teabagging a plastic doll? No? Wait, yes. That's what they did, as you can see in the video below:

Poundland's campaign received a handful of complaints, and is now being investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority, which handles complaints against ads from 'both the public and the industry'.

The budget retailer raised controversy before Christmas with a series of bizarre tweets showing an elf perform various acts - including the aforementioned teabagging, scratching his private baubles with a toothbrush, riding a donkey (the accompanying text was the rude bit) and an elf drawing a cock (and balls) with pubic hair on an etch-a-sketch.

Here's another:

Here's the one of an elf scratching his testi-clay:

But perhaps the most controversial of all was a post featuring a smiling elf 'teabagging' a doll.

Speaking to LADBible, the Advertising Standards Agency's Matt Wilson said: "The general nature of the complaints is that the ads (tweets) are offensive for their depiction of toy characters and other items which have been displayed in a sexualised manner, and are unsuitable to be displayed in an untargeted medium where children could see them. So we'll be assessing the ads against the rules on harm and offence."

Despite the controversy, Poundland enjoyed a 'record festive period', which shouldn't really come as a surprise, given the rising costs of living and a poverty rate hovering at 7.3 percent that makes the outlet one of the more affordable places to shop for many families.

Meanwhile, Poundland offered a succinct statement of their own, which reads: "We're proud of the campaign. Proud that it helped deliver Poundland's best-ever Christmas. Proud of the thousands of people who loved its British humour."

Right, time for a cup of... tea?

Damn, they know how to get into a man's head.

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman