UK Charity forced to apologise after giving Santa Claus coronavirus

The ad features Santa reading letters from children in a hospital bed. Photo / Twitter

The UK's National Health Service has apologised for an ad, which was intended to help raise money for its charity, featured Santa Claus almost dying from coronavirus.

The ad, created for NHS Charities Together, was initially praised as being heartwarming and touching but a flood of social media criticism soon forced the organisation to scrap the video.

Named The Gift, the ad showed an older man, with long white hair and a beard, being rushed to hospital with an oxygen mask.

The ad then cuts to the older man sitting in bed, with nurses caring for him and helping him recover.

As he sits in bed, the man can be seen responding to dozens of letters.

Eventually, the nurses give him the happy news he can finally go home after recovering from his bad bout of coronavirus.

This holiday season, give your children the gift of shrieking, bedwetting paranoia by showing them the NHS film about how SANTA CLAUS IS GOING TO DIE IF PEOPLE REFUSE TO MINDLESSLY FOLLOW ORDERS! pic.twitter.com/MeFVHI60c6

— Consent Factory (@consent_factory) December 12, 2020

The ad ends with the revelation the man the NHS staff have been dutifully caring for is Santa Claus.

The criticism of the ad was brutal, with some labelling it "shameful" and "disgusting".

In a statement, NHS Charities Together said the ad initially garnered an "overwhelmingly positive response" and wasn't intended for children.

"We created our Christmas campaign to highlight the ongoing commitment and hard work of NHS staff and volunteers to keep us safe and well in what has been and continues to be a really challenging time for the NHS," the charity said.

"Some people have expressed their concern about it upsetting children. The ad has been made to engage charity supporters and those who may want to buy products that generate donations to the appeal.

This utterly shameful Ad MUST be taken down immediately, how dare you mess with the mental health of of our children SHAME ON YOU. https://t.co/gXDb5MhpEJ

— Tonia Buxton (@ToniaBuxton) December 10, 2020

"It isn't aimed at children and hasn't been shown on TV. The charity did not put any funds into the production of the ad.

"We worked closely with the team behind the ad to make sure it was produced responsibly and it was cleared for use by the relevant regulatory authority.

"However, we are sorry to the parents of any young children who have been upset by watching the ad and to the young children themselves, they were not the intended audience for it."