[Ammi]

Clintons have been forced to issue an apology after a Christmas card branded "vile" and "beyond offensive" on social media was withdrawn from sale.

The £2 card listed "10 reasons why Santa Claus must live on a council estate", including: "He has a serial record for breaking and entering!", and: "He only works once a year".

On Twitter, @valbrown_valb labelled the card "seriously vile", @MikeSegalov wrote "this is beyond offensive" and ‏@SusanABatchelor said it was "vilifying and stigmatising the poor for corporate gain".

Labour MP Kerry McCarthy also stepped into the row, tweeting: "Wow, this is so wrong".

A spokesman for Clintons said: "A card in our range has been withdrawn immediately. 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."

At number four on the card's list was: "He's never actually been seen doing any work in his whole life", and number five read: " He drinks alcohol during working hours".

The product description on the Clintons website has now been replaced with an apology. It originally said: "This funny card is great for sending at Christmas time."

But customers on the greetings card retailer's Facebook page did not see the humour.

Belle Sebastian wrote: "Disgraceful! I live on a council estate - never have I been in trouble with the police, I don't drink, I worked full time for the council until I became very sick this year so I attend university whilst I recover. I cannot believe that your company has allowed this vile prejudice - I'm sure a number of your employees live on estates since you only pay minimum wage..."

The company's website lists job vacancies for Christmas temps in a number of locations with a salary of £4.96 to £6.50 per hour.

The Living Wage Foundation say the current UK living wage is £7.85 an hour.



https://uk.news.yahoo.com/council-es...3.html#Thy1EIM