School accused of major PR fail after burning effigy of Greta Thunberg

A private school in Hampshire was accused of a major PR fail today after setting fire to an effigy of Greta Thunberg.

Footage filmed by a guest at the Bonfire Night event at Highfield and Brookham School in Liphook on November 5 showed the Greta Thunberg guy going up in flames alongside a sign reading "Save the Planet".

"Greta's dying!" yelled one delighted pupil at the £9,000 a term prep school as the likeness of the teenage climate activist was consumed in the conflagration.

Horrified parents looked on as moments later a polar bear and a whale succumbed to the same fate and huge clouds of smoke began to billow across the playing fields.

"I wondered how clearly did the school think this one through," said a guest at the event, who preferred not to be named.

"The imagery was so off-point as the huge blaze bilged black smoke into the atmosphere and then poor Greta, a hero of our planet, was cremated," she added.

According to the filmer of the video, several parents commented on the jarring symbolism of the event.

"A family next to me were completely freaked out," she said.

"The school was supposed to be paying tribute to Greta but it totally backfired and ended up being a bit of a PR disaster," she added.