-Hundreds have complained to the Advertising Standards Authority
-Ad watchdog clears commercial and says it has no powers to axe it
-Facebook campaign launched to have plug pulled on 40-second clip
By Graham Smith
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Under fire: A Littlewoods TV ad featuring a nativity play in which children sing a song about how it is 'muvver', and not Father Christmas, who puts the presents under the tree has angered parentsChristmas comes but once a year and when it does it brings untold happiness and joy to millions of children up and down the country.
But a 40-second television advertisement is ruining the magical mystery of the festive season, according to furious parents.
The Littlewoods commercial features a nativity play in which children sing a song about how it is 'muvver', and not Father Christmas, who puts the presents under the tree.
She manages to do this, the ad explains, by using her credit card to pay for luxury goods that she otherwise might not be able to afford.
Hundreds of viewers have complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about the advert, saying it has caused their children distress by revealing that Father Christmas does not exist.
Hundreds more have signed a Facebook petition calling for it to be axed.
Despite this, a spokesman for the ASA said the advert does not breach advertising codes meaning they have no power to act.
He said: 'After careful consideration, the ASA has decided that, as the ad did not make reference to Father Christmas or suggest Father Christmas did not exist, it was unlikely to cause distress to children and therefore we won’t be launching an investigation.'
Fury: Hundreds of viewers have complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about the advert, saying it has caused their children distress by revealing that Father Christmas does not existAngry parents have inundated the comments sections of Facebook and YouTube to protest against the commercial.
Writing on the ad's YouTube page, BlackEyedPeasCool said: 'Thanks Littlewoods for letting all the magic of Santa be trashed in 41 seconds. When should I expect a representative from Littlewoods at my house to explain to my three-year-old that Santa isn't real.'
Gdfabpic added: 'This ad should be banned. Shame on you Littlewoods, especially as we're going through tough times. Putting such pressure on parents who struggle as it is to keep jobs and make ends meet.'
But a Littlewoods spokesman has defended the advert as representing various 'Christmas traditions'.
He said: 'We would never want to suggest that Santa doesn’t exist.“We’re sorry to hear there have been some concerns about our advert.
'We carried out a lot of research and found families have different Christmas traditions. Some families told us that Santa puts the presents in the stocking while family and friends place gifts under the tree.
Hundreds more people have signed a Facebook page petitioning for the ad to be scrapped
'Others said that Santa brings most of the presents but mum and dad do buy some presents for the children as well as the gifts for the rest of the family. We like to think of Christmas as a team effort.
'The advert has now been seen over 40million times and we have only received complaints from a very tiny percentage of viewers.'
The reaction to the Littlewoods ad is in stark contrast to a John Lewis seasonal commercial that has been dubbed 'one of the greatest ever'.
In the 90-second advert, a seven-year-old boy is shown impatiently counting down the days for Christmas morning to arrive. When it finally does, the little boy doesn’t rush to open his own presents, but instead dashes to fetch the gift he has for his parents.
source:dailymail
