Santa forgets Christmas in the new Alzheimer's Research UK advert

The newest advert from Alzheimer’s Research UK imagines a world where Santa forgets what Christmas is. Narrated by Stephen Fry, the advert follows a young girl as she tries to find out why Christmas feels much less festive. After travelling to the North Pole she realises that santa has Alzheimer’s disease, with the help of the elves, she asks them to research his illness. The two minute advert was created by Aardman Animators, the same studio behind Wallace and Gromit and many other well known Christmas adverts.

The main purpose of the advert is to drive donations, it is a plea for people to donate towards a cause that affects 850,000 people in the United Kingdom. The idea of Santa having the degenerative neurological disease is significant as he is a universally known cultural figure, and someone that most, if not all children relate to at some point in their lives - this portrays the fact that anyone can develop Alzheimer’s.

Between now and Christmas, just short of 20,000 people are going to be told they have Alzheimer’s disease. A disease they will unlikely be cured of, and one that will slowly strip away the person they have been all their life. If you would like to find out more about Alzheimer’s Research UK, or donate to the charity, please visit them here.