The Ponsonby Central Mall in New Zealand constructed a giant “gender-busting” Santa Claus to greet Christmas shoppers and destroy the innocence of young children.

“Santa Poppins” is not a “nanny,” but a “manny,” and he/she is a fat man with a full beard in a red suit; only the red suit is the famous coat worn by Mary Poppins. He/she is also holding the famous Mary Poppins’ umbrella and large purse.

Unlike either Santa Claus or Mary Poppins, though, the mall put Santa Poppins in panties and a garter — because, hey, if you are going to destroy the innocence of young children, you might as well go for it.

The mall explains on its Facebook page, Santa “has had many changes over the years but he is always on trend (& a wee bit cheeky!). This year he is Santa Poppins, the ultimate nanny (or should we say ‘manny’).”

Commenters were not happy. Here is a fair sampling:

I am all for equality but did you seriously have to take Santa and turn him into a sexual joke? This is not ok, if you want to role play a dirty Santa fantasy do it in your own home not is a public place where my very innocent children who still believe in Santa will see it. This is not ok. Why did you sexualise santa?? Why does everything have to be sexualised? Hate it. The problem with it is that it sexualises Santa – a character which is exclusively for the interest and benefit of children. That’s why it’s so wrong. Xmas should be kept innocent for the children until they grow up and choose to be trendy adults. Well, obviously not a place to take your children.

One commenter made an excellent point:

You sure as hell wouldn’t put a women in her underwear like that.

As of this writing, 43 comments were left, fewer than five were complimentary.

Last week a survey showed that 27 percent of Americans was Santa to be female or gender-neutral.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.