Air New Zealand Christmas ad replicates Trump's UN laughter moment

The ad beckoning travellers with a Christmas greeting from "the nicest place on earth" sees Santa accidentally e-mailing his 2018 list of naughty children to a student in New Zealand instead of his elves at the North Pole. PHOTOS: REUTERS

WELLINGTON (REUTERS) - An Air New Zealand advertisement released for the Christmas season this week takes a dig at United States President Donald Trump by portraying an American boy wearing a "Make Christmas Great Again" red cap being laughed at by other children on Santa's "naughty" list.

The three-minute advert beckoning travellers with a Christmas greeting from "the nicest place on earth" sees Santa accidentally e-mailing his 2018 list of naughty children to a student in New Zealand named Elvis Anderson instead of his elves at the North Pole.

Sitting in detention, Elvis gets the idea of gathering the naughty kids from around the world to fix the problem, and calls on New Zealand's national carrier to help transport the children to the summit on the country's North Island.

Each child representing a country makes promises to change their behaviour for the better by eating more vegetables, reducing flatulence and cutting down on hair-pulling.

The American boy, dressed in a two-piece suit and red sloganed cap, says he is not naughty at all and is the nicest person he knows, provoking laughter from the other children, reminiscent of the reaction to Mr Trump's speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September, when he spoke about the achievements of his administration.

"I didn't expect that reaction, but that's okay", the boy adds in the advertisement, the same words Mr Trump used at the UN.

Further pledges to be good from Elvis, including one to be nicer to neighbouring Australia made with his fingers crossed behind his back to suggest he doesn't intend to keep the promise, pushes a meter to "Nice" for the children, and confetti rains down as they celebrate.

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