Remember the adorable letter that a child wrote to Santa this year? It wasn't actually from a kid at all, nor was it from this year; it was the work of comedian writer and actor Zack Poitras.
The letter caught the Internet's attention for being so 2013. The "child" refers to an Amazon link when telling Santa what he wants under the tree this year.
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It gained attention after Twitter user @Gequeoman shared the image on Friday.
Dear Santa pic.twitter.com/715ZYRsr1n
— Gequeoman (@Gequeoman) November 29, 2013
It was picked up on several news sites, including Mashable, that assumed the letter was the work of a kid, in part due to the sloppy crayon handwriting. But the letter was a satirical creation by Poitras in 2011 for the blog The Inclusive.
Poitras developed an entire series of fake letters from kids to Santa using links from Amazon, Toys 'R' Us and Etsy, among other stores. Poitras told Mashable that he learned his fake letter went viral on Monday morning when he spotted an article on the front page of The Huffington Post. Most sites credited @Gequeoman for the image, not Poitras.
"I was pretty shocked and confused," Poitras said. "Since I made the letter two years ago, I had no real expectations for it, so it spreading around now is pretty great and bizarre."
Poitras said that he tweeted back and forth with @Gequeoman, who told Poitras he found the image on Reddit — without credit.
Poitras said he was upset because of the lack of attribution, but was aware that it only gained popularity because people believed it was the sincere work of a wishful and tech-savvy kid.
"I can almost feel the disappointed sigh through the computer when news sites and others have to admit this letter was created by just some guy," Poitras said. "So if people are enjoying it more thinking a kid wrote it, I guess that's fine. I ultimately made it to make people laugh, not to prank anyone." Poitras adds that the concept for the Amazon letter came from his own childhood, when he would mention gifts from catalogs, assuming it would improve his chance of receiving the present. In 2013, those catalogs are store websites, Poitras said, adding that the humor comes from a kid meticulously writing out an entire URL.
Santa can rest assured his workshop won't go out of business anytime soon because of Amazon's free two-day shipping.
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Image: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images