LONDON -- Clinton Cards has apologised for selling a Christmas card that gave 10 reasons why Santa Claus must live on a council estate (or public housing development).
The £2 card featured a photo of a man dressed as Santa Claus over a picture of a council estate with a list of reasons for why he must live there, including "he has a record for breaking and entering" and "he drinks alcohol during working hours."
Other items on the list included "he wears the same, out-of-fashion clothes every day and never washes them" and "he's never actually been seen doing any work in his whole life."
The card was met with a backlash online, with users on Twitter and Facebook questioning Clinton's decision to stock the product.
When did it become ok to laugh at people who live on council estates?This card from @ClintonsTweet plumbs new depths. http://t.co/NjRjvfGk1o— Beverley Clack (@bevclack) December 6, 2014
@ClintonsTweet Having just seen your "council cards" I can 100% tell you I will never ever buy a card from your company again. Bye Bye— Barry Sarath (@basarath) December 7, 2014
Not sure why at any stage someone didn't say: "This is a very bad idea." http://t.co/oxxPhyfQHI— Graeme Demianyk (@GraemeDemianyk) December 6, 2014
@ClintonsTweet how dare you insult and degrade people living in council estates, I feel a boycott coming on #flashcrowdstoptrading— valb (@valbrown_valb) December 6, 2014
The card has been withdrawn from sale and the page listing the item has been replaced with an apology.
We apologise but this card in our range has been withdrawn. It is in no way reflective of our views and we apologise without reservation. We are investigating how this offensive card got through our quality control procedures, which we will review and tighten as a result of this incident. This was a mistake and we deeply regret the upset that this has clearly caused.
Labour MP Kerry McCarthy told the BBC she thought the card was in poor taste. "What really struck me was how people I know, family, friends, and of course many of my constituents, who live in council houses and how they would feel if they went into the shop and saw that they were being portrayed as work-shy drunkards and thieving layabouts," she said.