M&S has apologised for an Instagram post about its Christmas TV advert (Picture: M&S)
Marks & Spencer has apologised for an advert in which Christmas party hats in the colour of the Palestine flag were thrown into the fire.
The company’s Christmas Clothing and Home advert, starring Hannah Waddingham of Ted Lasso fame, urged people to do away with Christmas traditions they no longer love.
While the TV advert ends with Hannah putting white-coloured party hats in a shredder, an outtake posted to Instagram shows hats in red, green and silver burning in a grate.
The images were posted to the official M&S Instagram account on Wednesday which showed paper party hats on fire in a grate, in the colours of green, red and silver.
The post caused fury as commenters noted the colours of the hats are the same colours as in the Palestinian flag, as Israel continues massive strikes on Gaza in retaliation for Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians on October 7.
M&S has now apologised for any ‘unintentional hurt’ caused and removed the post, while noting the advert was filmed in August.
The image was posted to the company’s Instagram page to promote their Christmas advert (Picture:M&S/Instagram)
In a statement issued Wednesday night, a spokesperson wrote on Twitter, aka X: ‘Today we shared an outtake image from our Christmas Clothing and Home advert, which was recorded in August.
‘It showed traditional, festive coloured red, green and silver Christmas paper 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.’
Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Zawe Ashton and Queer Eye star Tan France also appear in the advert, decorating Christmas trees, playing Christmas games and sending Christmas cards before trashing the traditions they don’t like, set to Ray BLK’s version of Meatloaf’s I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That).
Anna Braithwaite, M&S clothing and home marketing director, previously said of the advert: ‘I’m sure everyone watching our ad will be able to relate to our fabulous cast of talent who so hilariously bring to life those little moments and dilemmas we all have at Christmas time.
‘Before we created Love Thismas (Not Thatmas), we spoke to hundreds of our customers and they all told us that, at Christmas, they feel this pressure of having to worry about and plan so many things.
‘We know it can often feel like the list is never ending so this year we decided to celebrate and empower our customers to just do the things they love.’
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They apologised for ‘any unintentional hurt caused’.