Samsung Accused Of ‘Ruining Christmas’ With Ad ‘Sexualizing’ Mr. and Mrs. Claus
Chalk it up to another part of the supposed “War on Christmas”™?
A new commercial for the Samsung Galaxy smartphone has drawn the ire of critics who say its overt sexualization of childhood favorites Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus is unnecessarily gratuitous given the lighthearted association most people have with the fictional Christmas characters’ relationship.
The ad in question, a near-word-for-word copy of an older non-Christmas commercial, shows Santa boarding his sleigh to deliver presents, saying goodbye to two male elves who excitedly tell him they’ve made a farewell video for him. With the new smartphone, Mrs. Claus is able to share the video by touching her phone to her husband’s and clicking a button.
She then gets in close to Santa and tells him, “I also made you a video,” touches phones, then leans in to quietly say, “but you probably shouldn’t watch it on the sleigh,” suggesting the video is a sex tape of some sort.
Conservative media watchdog site complained, via a post titled “Leave Santa Alone, Samsung,” that the “icky” video ruined a popular image for many TV viewers:
Perhaps while Santa was busy making toys, Mrs. Claus has been whiling away the North Pole nights reading “50 Shades of Gray,” or reaching out to a certain former Democratic congressman from New York?
The ad is one Christmas image viewers could have done without. But using icky sex to sell products is apparently the “new normal” for advertisers.
But they weren’t alone in disliking the commercial. Detroit News‘s pop culture columnist lambasted the ad as the “worst commercial of the year,” writing:
Samsung gets right in our face and forces us to confront the idea of Mrs. Claus, as pure and wholesome symbol of childhood innocence as there is, making a sex tape for Santa. Look, I’m not trying to deny Mr. and Mrs. Claus a healthy sex life. But they’re not real, they’re characters. And there’s no reason to sexualize them.
Another critic conceded that the ad is “pretty funny” but said the ad “will ruin your childhood” and is “a preposterous thing to air as we head into Christmas.”
Watch below and decide for yourself:
