Christmas advert featuring Bridgerton star and they/them pronouns angers far-right bigots

‘Tis the season once again: where angry right-wingers get upset about so-called ‘woke’ Christmas adverts. This time, UK retail chain Boots are in the firing line – and incensed bigots are even calling for a boycott.

The healthcare company recently released their new Christmas ad, which stars Black actress Adjoa Andoh as Mrs. Claus, as she gets organised for the festive season.

It begins with Andoh’s Mrs. Claus stepping into her living room only to find her husband Santa fast asleep in front of the fire. So she takes things into her own hands, getting her “elfluencers”, including social media stars such @soph and @snatchedbywill – to help out.

What’s more, at one point she even uses (gasp!) they/them pronouns to refer to someone, which as you can imagine has the anti-woke brigade thoroughly up in arms.

Far-right extremist group Britain First – who were banned by Facebook in 2018 – have launched a petition calling for their loyal followers to boycott Boots over the advert, calling it “sickening”, but not in the fun gay way. They also use defamatory language to refer to Andoh, falsely describing her as an “anti-white racist.”

It begins: “Boots has just launched a sickeningly woke Christmas advert starring the notoriously anti-white racist actress ‘Adjoa Andoh’ (who described the British Royal Family as ‘Terribly White’) as ‘Mrs Claus’.

“The advert also promotes ‘They/Them’ transgender pronouns, a concept created by far-left extremist LGBT movements in an attempt to undermine traditional gender norms, biological sex and the traditional Christian family.

“Santa Claus is the only heterosexual white man in the whole advert and he is deliberately portrayed as a lazy good-for-nothing.”

Adjoa Andoh is an incredibly accomplished British actress who has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre and the Almeida Theatre as well as (of course) portraying Lady Danbury in the smash-hit Netflix period drama Bridgerton.

During King Charles’ coronation, Andoh acted as a guest commentator for ITV and remarked that the Buckingham Palace balcony was looking “terribly white” in contrast with the “rich diversity of the Abbey.” 

Ofcom received over 8,000 complaints about Andoh’s remarks, but didn’t take any action against ITV.

Following the release of the ad, and the Britain First petition, #BoycottBoots started trending on X, however plenty of people mocked the right-wing “snowflakes” for getting all het up over what many referred to as a “fabulous, funny, witty and warm” Christmas advert.

Last year, an M&S ad also sparked anger amongst right-wingers. The festive advert used the slogan ‘Love Thismas (Not Thatmas)‘ and focuses on striking the balance between doing what we actually enjoy at Christmas, and what we feel obliged to do.  

The playful advert did not please racists and homophobes, however, who slammed the retailer as “woke” for “trying to cancel Christmas” and for daring to feature gay and Black people. 

In response to the backlash against its ad, a spokesperson for Boots told MailOnline: “We recognise that people look forward to seeing our Christmas advert each year and will have their own opinions on the creative direction.

“Our latest advert stars Adjoa Andoh, who is an incredibly talented British actor well known for her leading role in the popular show Bridgerton and multiple other hit productions.

“We always strive to create inclusive campaigns and remind viewers that Boots has a gift for every kind of beauty enthusiast. We firmly stand against discrimination of any kind.”