Christmas is a time for family… but this series of ads by Dealz is anything but family friendly.
The discount store has been using an Elf on the Shelf doll in extremely compromising and suggestive positions and acts on their social media account in order to generate a bit of a buzz… and they’ve certainly succeeded.
Take this post on the Poundland Twitter (Dealz’ British equivalent (NSFW, by the way)), for example.
That's one very prickly Christmas tree pic.twitter.com/5FyYrlAzss
— Poundland (@Poundland) December 18, 2017
One of the most controversial posts featured the elf hanging a teabag on the face of a barbie-style doll with the caption “How do you take your tea? One lump or two?”
The original image featured a box of Twinings tea in the background and was removed after Twinings complained on Twitter. However, a remix of the original image was posted again hours later.
The brand wrote on Twitter “We are aware of an image that is circulating that misuses our product. This is to confirm that we had no involvement in this and that it is obviously not reflective of our brand values.”
We are aware of an image that is circulating that misuses our product. This is to confirm that we had no involvement in this and that it is obviously not reflective of our brand values.
— Twinings UK (@TwiningsUK) December 21, 2017
This really didn’t slow down the Dealz social media marketing team, which quickly followed up with this:
Well… You can’t say it hasn’t got people talking.
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