This story got me giggling this morning. I haven't heard the podcast series but will later this coming holiday week.

The curious case of New Zealand’s weirdest ever corporate Christmas card | The Spinoff

 

In December 1993 one of the country’s largest companies sent a unique festive greeting to its customers, kicking off a low-stakes mystery that’s now the subject of a six-part podcast series. 

 

It was just after 7pm, a few days before Christmas sometime in the early 90s. I would have been between nine and 11 years old. Paul Holmes was on the TV, giggling as he discussed a peculiar Christmas card recently received by customers of telecommunications giant Telecom NZ.

 

Holmes instructed the camera to show a close-up of the card’s artwork, which depicted what at first glance appeared to be an innocuous landscape scene. But hidden amongst the brushstrokes were two unusual features. One was Clear’s logo nestled on a hill. The other was a message barely visible in the grass: “TELECOM SUX”.

 

Also good to know corporations back then were as evil as corporations now:

"In February 1993 Telecom announced a record $121m profit for the previous quarter. In the same breath, they also announced that over the next four years, over 5,200 employees would lose their jobs."