Sophie Ellis-Bextor shares Gaza appeal after controversial M&S Christmas advert

02 November 2023 , 17:41

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Sophie Ellis-Bextor shares Gaza appeal after controversial M&S Christmas advert

Sophie Ellis-Bextor shared a Gaza appeal after Marks & Spencer was forced to pull one of its Christmas campaigns the singer stars in.

M&S bosses apologised after an advert showed burning paper Christmas hats as viewers noticed they were the same colours as the Palestinian flag. People branded it "insensitive" and "disgusting" in light of the current crisis in Gaza.

The post was part of the supermarket's 'This-mas, not That-mas' campaign unveiled on Wednesday, with its advert featuring famous faces such as Tan France and Hannah Waddingham saying no to the festive traditions they dislike. Sophie stars in the campaign and is seen setting fire to a pile of Christmas cards.

Sophie starred in the Christmas campaign by M&S (Marks and Spencer)

Since the Hamas attack on October 7 which saw over 1,400 people killed in Israel and hundreds more taken hostage, around 8,700 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory of Gaza. Sophie has since broken her silence on the ordeal, sharing a campaign on Instagram. "Gaza-Israel Crisis: Children must be protected, donate now," she put on her Instagram Story, attaching a link to SaveTheChildren and posting the love heart emoji.

In a statement released by the retailers on Wednesday, a spokesperson said: "Today we shared an outtake image from our Christmas Clothing and Home advert, which was recorded in August. It showed festive coloured red, green and silver party hats in a fire grate.

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"While the intent was to playfully show that some people just don't enjoy wearing paper Christmas hats over the festive season, we have removed the post following feedback and we apologise for any unintentional hurt caused."

Replying to the original post, one commenter wrote: "This is absolutely vile, you should be ashamed of yourselves." Another agreed writing: "Absolutely disgusting. Even if it was recorded in August you should have reshot this image or used technology to make changes. Shame on you!!!"

But other shoppers defended M&S and said the chain shouldn't have had to apologise for the image at all. One said: "Why are you apologising when it was recorded in August? If some stupid person thinks you have purposely just made it up since the 7th Oct then that's down to them. Deary me.." Another wrote: "Oh for heaven's sake. I don't often use the word snowflake but this is ridiculous. You're apologising because people got 'offended' by a photo of Christmas hats in a fire grate?"

Harry Rutter