When Harry Met Santa is a four-minute-long advert showing the sweet love story between an ordinary man – and Santa Claus himself.
In order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Norway decriminalising homosexuality, the Norwegian postal service,
Posten, has released a moving festive ad depicting a gay Santa.
And it did not take long before the video went viral on both Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.
In short (and in case your Norwegian isn't up to scratch!), the video shows a startled Harry first meets the love of his life when wandering down the stairs in the middle of the night one Christmas. Shirtless and sleepy, he stumbles upon Santa hiding presents under the tree.
Blushing, Santa makes a quick exit up the chimney, only to return, as he always does, the following year.
They meet again the following year, and Harry catches Santa looking at an old photo of a young Harry placed on top of the mantelpiece.
After longing for his crush all year, Harry sends Santa a love letter (via Posten, of course), which reads, "Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is you."
By next year, Harry is ready to make a move, and – dressed up in his Christmas finery – waits up late on Christmas Eve to catch Santa when he is doing his years trip around the globe.
A true love story, the end of the movie shows Santa and Harry sharing a kiss, and needless to say, social media was lit up with appreciation for this heart-warming ad.
"Norway's postal service (Posten) made a gay Christmas Santa advert!" one person said. "It's magic. On TikTok would recommend seeing".
"I don't even care about the translation – I need more", another commented.
"It's 2021. Santa can be bi and poly. Why not?" said a third.
In an interview with
LGBTQ Nation, Monica Solberg, Posten's marketing director, said:
"Posten is an inclusive workplace with great diversity, and we would like to celebrate the 50th anniversary with this fine love story. In last year’s campaign, Santa was angry at Norway Post, which took away from him the ‘business’ – this year, Santa is happy that Norway Post can relieve him a little, so that he can be with the one he loves."
Solberg added: "There will certainly be some negative reactions from some environments, but we are prepared to deal with that. The right to love whoever you want is a fundamental human right, and is not considered a political issue in free democratic societies in 2021."
