HO HO HO! SANTA CLAUS
The Independent (London)
December 4, 2006 Monday
Fourth Edition
Poor old Santa Claus.
He just can’t seem to do anything right these days. In Berlin, he
stands accused of National Socialist sympathies, after shoppers
detected a stiff-armed salute in some miniature wooden statues
on sale. Meanwhile he is lambasted by health campaigners for his
long-standing advertising contract with Coca-Cola.
He has also become a victim of the rampant anti-American sentiment
of our times. Santa is resented for being a brash US upstart who
has eclipsed traditional distributors of seasonal largesse such as
Father Christmas (Britain), Noel Baba (Turkey), Julenissen (Norway),
Viejo Pascuero (Chile), Deda Mraz (Bosnia), Gaghant Baba (Armenia)
and San Nicklaw (Malta).
Now we learn that Czech advertisers have had enough of him too. The
Creative Copywriters’ Club argues that in their country baby Jesus, or
"Jezisek", has always had the job of delivering the gifts. In their
view, Santa should take a flying sleigh ride back to where he came
from. An anti-red-velvet revolution is in the air.
It all seems terribly vindictive to us. What absurdities will this
Santa-bashing result in next? An Asbo to prevent him going anywhere
near a chimney? A campaign to close down elvish sweatshops? A visit
from the RSPCA to Lapland to investigate allegations of reindeer abuse?
It’s a good job Santa’s such a jovial soul. If so much vitriol had
been heaped on a lesser man, we suspect that everyone would be getting
a lump of coal in their stocking this year. And it would serve them
right, too, for being naughty, not nice.
From: Baghdasarian