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'Santa forgot' TV ad campaign raises awareness of dementia

Christmas is forgotten by a Santa living with dementia in an advert raising funds for research.
Santa Forgot advert

Christmas is forgotten by a Santa living with dementia in a new TV advert.

The Santa Forgot campaign has been launched by Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) to highlight the importance of research into the condition, which affects 850,000 people in the UK.



The animated advert, narrated by Stephen Fry, follows a young girl named Freya, who on learning of Santa’s condition travels to the North Pole.

She recruits elves as researchers because she believes that ‘if Santa has a disease, research can find a way to fix it’.

Figures released this week by the Office for National Statistics show that dementia and Alzheimer's disease has become the leading cause of death in England and Wales for the first time.

Poignant reminder

ARUK chief executive Hilary Evans said the Santa Forgot campaign, created by Wallace and Gromit makers Aardman Animations, is a ‘poignant and powerful reminder that dementia doesn't discriminate’.

She added: ‘We have to be provocative about dementia, to help fight misconceptions and fatalism around the condition, and demonstrate that pioneering research holds the answers.

‘Santa is an important cultural figure, but the idea that he too could be affected drives home the point that dementia can strike those most special in our lives.’

Special voice

Liz Ayre, an ARUK champion, lost her husband Mike to early-onset Alzheimer’s in 2013. Their daughter, Ciana, voices Freya in the TV advert.

‘I hope Santa Forgot gives people two minutes to think about the impact of dementia this Christmas,’ said Ms Ayre, ‘and be inspired by how we can change the future with research.’


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