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Christmas Advertising

Elves Behavin' Badly hijacks lorries with a crude Christmas call to action

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

September 4, 2018 | 3 min read

Christmas merchandise brand Elves Behavin' Badly is looking to inspire or corrupt Christmas revellers into posing their seasonal elves into seedy scenarios.

Elves Behaving Badly

Elves Behaving Badly lorries

The PMS International Group brand has decked its lorries out in badly behaved elves as a means to entice the public with a new naughty elf product line. The company claims to have sold 2m elves in 2017 and now creative agency Taylor Herring has been brought on board to help top that figure this year.

It staged the stunt, claiming that said lorries will clock 1m miles before Christmas Day.

Clashing with the much more wholesome Elf on the Shelf trend (where a Christmas elf is moved around the home each morning to awe children), members of the public have taken to posing their elves in more compromising positions and sharing them on social media.

The brand is plotting a commercial and a photography competition to further highlight the work, later in the campaign.

Paul Beverley, managing director at PMS International Group PLC, said: “Elves are the new must-have Christmas companion and Elves Behavin’ Badly are leading the pack with their cheeky charm and mischievous antics.

“The new Elves Behavin' Badly livery will make PMS' lorries some of the most recognisable on the roads. We are sure that the images of our elves will make people smile, and will become instantly memorable to all those who see them out and about.”

Ardent followers of ASA's rulings may remember that naughty elves caught many headlines in 2017. Firstly, Poundland came under fire for sharing an elf-themed Christmas calendar on Twitter; it showed a female elf getting ‘teabagged’ by a male elf, using a Twinings Classic teabag.

Elf on Shelf
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It was arguably misbehaving elves, not John Lewis (which rebranded recently) that won the day. Twinings was not happy with the association. Neither were the owners of the 'Elf on the Shelf' brand, which pointed out that the elf was not an official Elf on the Shelf despite the media reporting the contrary.

The ASA also ruled on the X-rated tweet (albeit months after it had already been removed by the discount retailer). Poundland reported that it gained notoriety with a campaign costing just £25.53.

It looks like there is more elf mayhem scheduled yet again this year. A Taylor Herring spokesperson promised more to come from the "naughty little devils" in a TVC closer to Christmas.

Christmas Advertising

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