Norwegian newspaper apologises for publishing Grinch-like Santa obituary
A Norwegian newspaper has apologised for publishing an ‘obituary’ for Santa Claus which claimed the fictitious character had passed away aged 227 following a long and active service in providing happiness to children.
Posted on Affenposten’s website the advertisement went on to claim that a funeral would be held for the red-suited present giver on 28 December at the ‘Chapel of the North Pole’.
In a subsequent apology the paper’s editor Hakon Borud said: “Aftenposten has strict guidelines for both the content and use of symbols in our obituaries. This ad is a violation of these and should never have been published.”
Borud went onto promise to ‘review its internal processes to establish what went wrong’ and prevent a repeat occurrence.
The notice was not present in the paper’s print edition and has now been deleted from the website.