Iceland is to unleash a life-size animatronic orangutan on the streets of the UK after its Christmas advert highlighting the impact of palm oil production was banned for breaching political advertising rules.



The supermarket chain has turned to special effects technology befitting Hollywood to create an ultra-realistic robotic orangutan for a stunt to raise awareness of the plight facing the species from deforestation of its habitat for palm oil production.



The orangutan, created by a team who have worked on films and TV shows including Doctor Who and Sherlock, will first appear clinging to a Christmas tree in Coin Street, south London, before moving to other locations, including Oxford Street and several parks in the capital.



It will then appear at a number of Iceland stores around the country, including Manchester and Birmingham, apparently “searching for a new home”. The replica orangutan is controlled remotely and by a specialist puppeteer who has studied the ape’s movements.



Last week, Iceland’s rebadging of an animated short film was rejected by Clearcast, the body that vets adverts, for breaching rules banning political advertising in the 2003 Communications Act.



The ban prompted a public outcry, with stars including James Corden, Anna Friel and Paloma Faith supporting a campaign to allow it to be aired on TV.

James Corden (@JKCorden) This commercial was banned from TV for being too political. I think everyone should see it x pic.twitter.com/ns2XnGSnv6

It has also drawn political attention, with the MP Michael Gove tweeting to praise Iceland for raising awareness. More than 12 million people have watched the ad on Facebook, where UK broadcast TV regulations do not apply.

An online petition on Change.org calling for the ad to be allowed to air has drawn almost 750,000 supporters.

“Our stranded, distressed orangutan is a stark and potent symbol of the effects of deforestation,” said Richard Walker, Iceland’s managing director. “We are determined to be at the forefront of efforts to guarantee palm oil is not causing rainforest destruction and Iceland will continue to be a driving force until this environmental impact is drastically reduced.”

Iceland has been accused of deliberately planning an ad that would be controversial and perhaps be banned, a relatively common tactic among advertisers seeking to get more bang for their marketing buck through free publicity.

Iceland has denied this, saying it had booked £500,000 of media space on TV for the ad campaign, although this is not a significant TV budget for a major retailer.

The retailer has an extensive range of palm oil-free products that it is seeking to promote across the festive season.

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Iceland will still be placing TV ads but only 10-second clips that will highlight palm oil-free products.

To its credit, Iceland has put ethics surrounding this issue at the heart of the chain. Earlier this year it became the first major UK supermarket to pledge to remove palm oil from all its own-brand foods.

“We always try to give people a real choice about what they buy and this was a key driver of our decision to allow Iceland customers to join us in saying ‘no to palm oil,’” Walker said. “I am immensely proud of the work our food development team has carried out to create this new Christmas range without palm oil – a celebration of our commitment to end its use before the year closes.”