Tesco’s Christmas advert hit with 1,500 complaints over Covid vaccine passport scene

Tesco’s latest festive advert offering hasn’t gone down well with some people, with the clip being hit by more than 1,500 complaints.

The advert, which features Santa Claus showing his Covid vaccine passport to gain entry to the country, has now become the most complained-about advert of 2021, the Guardian reports.

Named ‘This Christmas, Nothing’s Stopping Us’, the theme of the ad focusses on people enjoying a proper Christmas free of restrictions, after last year’s celebrations were ruined by lockdown rules.

Tesco

The scene which has received most of the complaints features a reporter on TV delivering the ‘breaking news’ that ‘Santa could be quarantined’.

However, Father Christmas reaches for his phone and reveals he has a Covid vaccine pass, showing it to a border control officer to prove he’s been vaccinated.

According to the complaints made to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the scene is ‘coercive’ and encourages ‘medical discrimination’ – the advert has caused controversy on social media, especially within the anti-vax movement.

The ASA has revealed it will be reviewing all the complaints, to check if an investigation over a potential breach of the rules is required.

A spokesperson for the authority said: “We’ve currently received over 1,500 complaints regarding this ad.

“The large majority of complaints assert that the ad is coercive, and encourages medical discrimination based on vaccine status. We are currently carefully reviewing these complaints to determine whether there are any grounds for further action.”

The 90-second advert is soundtracked to Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now, and was first shown last Saturday during ITV’s Celebrity Chase Special.