# Simples: meerkats top Red Cross Christmas gift sales - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/11/21/simples-meerkats-top-red-cross-christmas-gift-sales-0/ - Published: 2010-11-21T10:48:55+00:00 - Author: Howard Lake **A meerkat mug, mousemat and coaster set have become the best-selling Christmas gifts sold in British Red Cross charity shops, raising over £10,000. Depicting a painting of three meerkats standing up on their hind legs, the mug (£3.99), mousemat and coaster set (£2.99), over 3,000 items have been sold already, with a month to go before Christmas.** Since the debut of [Aleksandr Orlov](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Orlov_(advertising)), the popular meerkat character from the [comparethemarket.com](http://www.comparethemarket.com) TV advert, there has been considerable interest in meerkats and the numbers of people visiting meerkats in zoos have reportedly increased substantially. Aleksandr now has [over 769,000 friends on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/Comparethemeerkat), over 42,000 followers on Twitter and brought out an ‘autobiographical’ book recently that has shot to the top of the bestseller lists. Paul Thompson, British Red Cross head of retail, said: “When we selected our Christmas gift range six months ago we did not think that the TV advert would have an impact on sales, but it clearly has”. ## Advertisement [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/) The meerkat mug, coasters and mousemat set can be bought online and in over 100 of the Red Cross’ 320 charity shops across the UK. www.redcross.org.uk/shop * **[SVP launches appeal as online donations fall](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/11/26/svp-launches-appeal-online-donations-fall/)**( 26 November 2010) * **[The Phone Room offers a hum-dinger of an advent calendar](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/12/06/phone-room-offers-humdinger-advent-calendar/)**( 6 December 2010) * **[Santander and ITV1 raise over £111,000 so far in Christmas appeal](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/12/13/santander-and-itv1-raise-over-111000-so-far-christmas-appeal/)**( 13 December 2010)