03 November 2023 , 19:10
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Britain’s so-called “strictest headteacher” has expressed her “outrage” at Marks & Spencer over its Christmas advert, days after the company deleted an outtake from the campaign following a backlash online.
The newly released advert features Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney providing the voices for two of characters and comedian Dawn French taking on the role of the Christmas Fairy. However, its message was not appreciated by Katharine Birbalsingh who shared a scathing letter to the British chain on X, formerly known as Twitter. She wrote: “You have a duty as our national department store to keep the spirit of Christmas alive for the sake of our children.
The head's letter in full from X (@Miss_Snuffy/Twitter)
M&S had earlier received criticism over an Instagram post (PA)"When our nation is on its knees, trying to keep our spirits high for what we can all achieve together, this is not the time for you to encourage people to ignore the inspirational spirit of Christmas of self-sacrifice, gratitude, and instead do ‘whatever we want for ourselves’. I run an inner-city school in London where we try hard to install values of decency in our children. When Marks & Spencer puts town fingers up to these values it makes our lives as teachers much more difficult and it stifles social mobility. How can you do this to our country at this time? Shame on you. Please take the advert down. Try again. Do better.”
However, Ms Birbalsingh’s post also drew backlash, with one person saying: "Haven’t you got a fairly important job to do? You seem to have an awful lot of time to waste on nonsense. I’ve seen the ad, it simply says you don’t have to conform do your own thing. Surely there are more important things going on at the moment.”
Headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh slammed the firm's latest Christmas advert (S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)The chain has earlier sparked controversy over its now deleted post featuring paper hats burning in a grate which the retailers captioned with, 'This Christmas, do only what you love...like saying no to paper hats'. The post drew heavy criticism from followers who noticed the burning hats were the colours of the Palestinian flag.
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In a statement released by the retailers on Wednesday night, 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. 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."