Waitrose cuts sun tan scene from Christmas ad after complaints | Christmas ads

Waitrose has altered a section of its Christmas ad that showed two farmers comparing sun tans after criticism from skin cancer patients.

The ad shows producers across the year as they grow and harvest food for the Christmas dinner table, and previously included a scene in which two farmers compared their tanned arms from working outside.

The supermarket previously apologised after Melanoma UK and viewers raised concerns that the scene glorified sun tans and failed to highlight the dangers of sun exposure.

The scene has now been cut from the ad.

A Waitrose spokesperson said: “Our ad celebrates the care and effort that our partners and real farmers – who work in all weathers – put in to make sure our customers have what they need for Christmas.

“While we included some lighthearted and ‘true-to-life’ moments, we’ve listened to the comments made about the serious message of sun safety and will be using an updated version of the ad to address these concerns.”

One person who has melanoma wrote on Waitrose’s Facebook post that she found it “absolutely astonishing that a company like yourselves should be showing farmers glorifying in their sun tans”.

“This is a kick in the teeth for all melanoma patients and for all the organisations trying to educate everyone [on] the dangers of sun tans,” she added. “What on earth were you thinking to include this in a Christmas advert? Words fail me.”

The skin cancer charity Melanoma UK also criticised the advert, saying: “Waitrose can do better than this.”