Actually Santa was being prepared to be inflated. I thought it was rather creepy, however, seeing him collapsed on the lawn as if trying to recover from too much Saturday night partying.
Our neighbors had inflatables a few years ago- a snowman and the Grinch. Every morning I'd wake up and think, "Oh, they died from exposure!" They always look so strange and lifeless without the air in them. Great catch- and very humorous!
Yes, I see these scattered all over our area and when they first came out a few years ago I thought they were supposed to be like that ... DUH! They look so cute inflated but don't like them lying all over the ground during the day so I won't buy one ;-)