Sacarias Kiusalaas | When Harry Met Santa / 2021 [commercial advertisement]

a season for love

by Douglas Messerli

 

Rikke Sofie Jacobsen (copywriter), Sacarias Kiusalaas (director) When Harry Met Santa / 2021 [4 minutes] [commercial advertisement]

 

In 2021 the Norwegian Postal Service (Posten) released an extraordinary 4 minute advertisement on Norwegian television. In this brief commercial, a handsome middle aged man, Harry (Johan Ehn) happened to be up late one Christmas Eve getting a drink of water when he met up with Santa (Terje Stromdahl) suddenly appearing in his living room. The two, surprised to see one another, are mesmerized, locking eyes for a moment before Santa suddenly disappears up the chimney to continue on his way.

  Christmas follows upon Christmas with Harry joining in family dinners with his sister and brothers and their children, one year attending a church concert wherein his niece appears in the chorus (Stockholm Music Gymnasium Youth Choir 22), he making faces at her while she attempts to sing with a straight face.

    But now Harry, each year, looks forward to Santa’s presence and presents, decorating a special tree ornament for Santa, sharing cookies and coffee with him, and, upon one occasion, waking up on the couch to see Santa sitting in a nearby chair, telling him that he was snoring.

    One year Santa brings him a special tree ornament of himself in black from the chimney dust. But increasingly Harry finds it more and more difficult to spend so little time with a man he now clearly loves. And as the two grow closer, even Santa recognizes their long period between their encounters, announcing to Harry, “I’ll be back next year.”

   But Harry’s growing older, checking up on his image in the mirror. He finally sits down and, like a child, writes a note to Santa at the North Pole: “All I want for Christmas is you," ending with a handwritten emoji of a heart.

    That year on Christmas Eve, presumably 2021, the doorbell rings, and a postman from the Norwegian Posten stands there with a small stack of wrapped gifts for Harry, surprised to find no Santa in sight. He turns back to his living room to discover Santa there, no longer having to hurry off since his new “elves” are hard at work.

    Finally the couple, Harry and Santa, have some time alone together, and Harry moves toward Santa as they kiss, and kiss once more, over the years having fallen in love.

  As the camera moves back to witness the men kissing through the window, the following words appear across the screen: “In 2022, Norway marks 50 years of being able to love whoever we want.”

    This truly beautiful ad, unimaginable in the US, was beloved in Norway and appeared without controversary. In England British academic Katie Edwards, writing in The Independent declared that the film was based on “anti-gay tropes,” villainizing gay male sexuality, since two men kissing is represented as inherently a sexual act while a man and a woman kissing is considered a societal norm. I have no idea what she is talking about in this case. After all the men aren't having sex, but simply demonstrating their love. If they have sex after, so too might of a mom of a child who witnesses her kissing Santa Claus.

     The speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly, László Kövér accused the advertisement of desecrating Christmas. Others argued it sexualized Christmas.

     But Santa, actually living near Norway for most of the year, is already a secular symbol of the religious event so I don’t comprehend why if we can imagine a Mrs. Claus, we might not imagine that Santa has lived alone for all these years and finally found the man he was long seeking. Santa is sexualized either way. And, of course, Eartha Kitt’s 1953 song “Santa Baby” is about as sexual as you can get.

   This Norwegian add brings god jul to my heart in a way I’ve never quite witnessed before in a filmed advertisement. And certainly this 2021 ad is one I will never forget.

 

Los Angeles, December 3, 2025

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (December 2025).