Key Points
- An advertisment about the cost of living crisis in the UK has gone viral.
- The video depicts a single father struggling to buy his young son a Christmas present.
- The UK's annual rate of inflation reached a 41-year high of 11.1 per cent in October.
An emotional Christmas advertisement has gone viral for its portrayal of the UK's cost of living crisis.
The video, titled 'The Gokart', has amassed more than 12 million views on Facebook since it was posted on 1 December.
It depicts a widowed father who is struggling to financially support his young son Leo over the Christmas holidays.
Leo is convinced that "Santa is poorly [sick] this year", which is why he will not be receiving any presents, prompting his father to refurbish a go-kart for him.
The video ends with the message: "The magic of Christmas is made, not bought."
The advertisement was created by Sam Teale Productions, a small company of four people from West Yorkshire, England.
Filmmaker Sam Teale said he wanted to remind people of the importance of family on Christmas while also capturing the reality of the cost of living crisis.
"It's not completely made up, we've used realistic bits. My family normally does Secret Santa, we've pulled that back this year. We know it's affecting real people," he said on News.
"A friend who's a dentist asked that same question and a kid actually really said 'Santa's ill' and we changed that to 'Santa's poorly'."
The video is titled on YouTube as an "alternative John Lewis advert". John Lewis is a UK department store.
The company has produced its highly-anticipated Christmas advertisements since 2007.
"The supermarket adverts are amazing but they're all very positive and this Christmas is harder," Mr Teale said.
The cost of living has been increasing across the UK since early 2021.
The annual rate of inflation reached a 41-year high of 11.1 per cent in October, which has seen prices of goods and services skyrocket.
