Merry Marketing

The Santa Clause in Your Ad Contract

Christmas and Marketing go together like eggnog and brandy. Separate, they each have their merits and utility. Together, they’re thick, rich, and will fuck you up if you have enough.

That’s what happened to Santa Claus. He’s had enough Christmas and marketing to have gone totally FUBAR and back again. Now, before you chide ol’ Ebeneezer Howell here to “get with Christmas spirit, man,” hear me out:

There was a time when Santa was an organic hodgepodge of influences in a slipstream of constant evolution. A pinch of Christianity here (St. Nicholas, or, tellingly, Sinterklaas, a contraction of the name in Dutch), a sprinkle of vestigial paganism there (Woden, Siberian shamans, anything Yule-related), and eventually, you have the shambling shapeshifter who rewarded well-behaved children with gifts pre-20th century.

At times, Santa was tall and lean. He wore red but also green. Gift-giving was part of his schtick, but a lousy kid could receive a stick (with which to be beaten by their parents). Santa was a dynamic emblem of the season who could change and evolve with the times.

The Children's Friend: A New Year's Present to the Little Ones from Five to Twelve. Circa 1821, author and illustrator unknown. Would you let your kids sit on this guy’s lap?

Not even popular literature could lock in the dude’s look. Clement Moore’s A Visit from St. Nicholas, a.k.a. 'Twas the night before Christmas, described Santa as “a jolly old elf” and a “little old driver.” An A.P.B. out with that description would turn up a leprechaun.

It wasn’t until 1931 when a corporate marketing department trying to sell a summery soda during chilly winter stepped in and froze Santa’s development into the iconic image we’ve had for nearly a century.

The D'Arcy Company was an advertising agency established in 1906 (and dissolved after its acquisition by Publicis in 2003). For much of its history, D’Arcy was the agency of record for the Coca-Cola Company. There, ad executive Archie Lee and illustrator Haddon Sundblom created the modern and enduring vision of Santa Claus of today, ubiquitous worldwide due to Coke’s century of annual Christmas ad campaigns. It was an impressive transformation, on par with making Jesus a blue-eyed blond. But was it the best choice for our culture?

I’m sure that a company whose product started as a patent medicine to cure morphine addiction with cocaine, criticized for its health effects, environmental policies, animal testing, and predatory business practices for a hundred-plus years surely has our best interests in mind. Or, as its slogan says, “It’s real magic.” Like Santa.

Bah-humbug. — DH

Meanwhile

You might enjoy my latest journalist foray on the cover of this week’s Bohemian—Olive Me: A Meditation on a Dirty Martini or Two.