Poundland’s Christmas Elfie – famed for double entendres which would make even a Carry On scriptwriter wince – might be conspicuous by his absence this year but the budget chain has still managed to upset customers with its new festive social media push.
The campaign, which launched last week, has so far promoted everything from giant prosecco glasses to Nair wax strips with little issue. But a tweet promoting Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate Fingers left little to the imagination by showing a woman who appeared to be “enjoying a moment” under the caption “For a friend who loves a good finger!”
On launch, a spokesperson for the retailer said: “At this time of year, giving our customers a laugh is our (all-female) social media team’s only job as Poundland fills the nation’s stockings.”
However, it seems that not everyone was quite so amused and the tweet has now been deleted, although this is hardly the first time Poundland has raised a few eyebrows.
Naughty Elfie’s first outing, during Christmas 2017, triggered a ban from the Advertising Standards Authority after 85 people complained that Twitter posts featuring photos of an elf toy in sexually suggestive positions were offensive.
These included the elf riding a toy donkey with the caption “tell Rudolph I’ve found a new piece of ass”; pictured in a basin with two “nude” dolls, “rub-a-dub-dub, three in a tub” and playing strip poker under the line “joker, joker, I really want to poke her”; perhaps the most controversial was a shot of the elf “teabagging” a female figurine. At the time, Poundland accused the complainants of a “sense of humour failure”.
While the retailer only made a few changes to the last year’s campaign, it did introduce an “age-gate” to its posts on Facebook and marked its Twitter profile as adult content.
Poundland has yet to comment on the “festive finger” fiasco, however…
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