Does this PayPal commercial spill the beans about Santa Claus?

PayPal has reportedly received hundreds of complaints regarding a commercial they aired which kinda-sorta implies that a certain obese man with a white beard and penchant for breaking into homes at the end of December isn’t real.

The commercial which aired in the UK, shows two adorable British children absolutley panicking (in the most British way) that they’re not going to get presents because their parents aren’t out getting trampled to death at shopping malls.

The commercial ends with the two children finding a load of presents waiting for them under the tree, all of which (the comercial shows) were bought by the parents using PayPal, and not brought by Santa.

“The general nature of the complaints are that the ad is offensive because it implies that Father Christmas doesn’t exist and that it’s inappropriate to be shown at a time when it could be seen by children,” a spokesman for the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency told CNN.

PayPal responded by essentially telling parents to chill out:

“We take feedback from our customers seriously, and don’t want to be seen as Scrooge. So we’ve made arrangements for this ad only to air after 9 pm… after which it is assumed that young children won’t be watching,” it said in a statement.

So let this be a lesson, parents. If you don’t want to shatter the dreams of your little ones, don’t let them watch late night television.

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Matt Lee is a Web producer for Metro New York. He writes about almost everything and anything. Talk to him (or yell at him) on Twitter so he doesn’t feel lonely@mattlee2669.