Meerkat ads pulled over Ukraine war sensitivities

TV & Film TV & Film: In The News
, , ,
1

The Comparethemarket price comparison site has pulled ads featuring the animated rich Russian meerkat Aleksandr Orlov from news bulletins and content about the Ukraine war. The firm said it had reviewed its media strategy due to the sensitivities around the Russian invasion.

Orlov, and sidekick Sergei, feature in one of the advertising industry’s most recognised campaigns.

The firm stressed in a statement: “The meerkats are fictional characters. They have no association with Russia and the current situation. We are continually reviewing our advertising to ensure we’re being sensitive to the current situation.”

Orlov does, however, hail from a fictional Russian town and subsequently moved to a London mansion, according to the firm’s owner, Peterborough-based financial company BGL.

The meerkat ads have been running since 2009, and have been so successful that Orlov’s “simples” catchphrase was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2019. The characters have spawned spin-off cuddly toys, sent as promotions to people who used the price comparison site.

A sign of the times … :slightly_frowning_face:

2

Oh, puleeze! It’s just a touch of fun with a play on words.

2 Likes
3

Oligarch meerkats…who’d a thought it.

Well I love them.

4 Likes
4

Oh dear, how daft! :rofl: But you can see it, can’t you? :rofl: Pritti Patel will be after them

It’s a bit like those piggy money boxes Nat West used to give away

I always called my son’s his capitalist pigs :pig:

image
image750×541 51.3 KB

4 Likes
5

apparently piggy banks evolved from the fact that Pots made to store money were made from pygg clay.

4 Likes
6

I like the Meerkats, and see no reason to ban them for goodness sake, its so ridiculous! :roll_eyes:

1 Like
7

Personally I am glad they’ve taken them off. Not because of the present situation in Europe but simply because their screeching is getting a bit wearing. Like a lot of ads they have reached their sell by date.

1 Like
8

Agreed Tezza, they are even starting to get threadbare. I can understand that they have withdrawn because it’s now toxic marketing, contaminated by the current situation. Just shrewd business thinking, nothing politically correct about it.

1 Like
9

I’ve just seen one on tv, that was on SKY Max

10

Spot the meerkat? I think my SiL has a book like that a bit like where’s wally.

11

The Meerkats and the Go Compare ads started at about the same time but I think the Go Compare ones have worn better

They do make me smile and I can’t see withdrawing them really, we’ve got a lot worse to worry about