Santa and the Bunny, A Modern History- PART THREE

This is Part Three of a series. Please read Parts 1 & 2 for the full story...
Having made the decision to leave the Americas for economic reasons, Claus Enterprises decided to base itself in Mongolia. As with the previous two locations, this decision had been carefully thought out. China was undergoing political change after the death of Mao Tse Tung, and despite the uncertainty and unrest in the country, Santa realised that it was a sleeping economic powerhouse. The success of Japan and Taiwan would spur the leadership to modernise and invigorate China, and despite events such as the Tianeman Square protest and subsequent armed retaliation, it was obvious that the country had a massive future, and so it has proven.
Secondly, Mongolia gives Claus Enterprises the two main requirements for locating a base: proximity to supply sources, and privacy. The huge plains of Central Mongolia are sparsely inhabited, yet not too far away from China's immense manufacturing capabilities. The location of the majority of China's factories in the South did cause some initial concern, but with most of Santa Claus' merchandise being shipped direct to the country of delivery these days, this is no longer a problem.

With both Claus and Easter Bunny well established in their roles and sitting on an extremely profitable marketing model, it appears as though both entities have settled down somewhat, and have decided to make use of their respective fortunes. As extremely wealthy, but also very recognisable entities, it is understandable that both of them have decided to buy not only their personal comfort, but also their personal privacy.
The very rich can afford the very best, and also the biggest, a mere acreage estate would not be sufficient for either privacy, or ego. So naturally, they have both bought personal islands.

Santa has invested in a tropical island well away from normal shipping lanes or flight paths, and Bunny has bought a truly remote piece of real estate that is uniquely suited to his preferences. They are, naturally enough, respectively known as Christmas Island and Easter Island.
Christmas Island is located to the South of Indonesia, and North-West of Australia. Look for it on a map and you will see that it is not too far from the tropical paradise of Bali. Naturally, some would question why Santa would purchase a place which has a Detention Centre for illegal migrants on it, but this is actually a positive for Claus. Looking at a map of the island reveals that the centre of the island is dominated by a massive National Park. This of course is Santa's private estate. The Detention facilities are on the islands extreme West coast, with the only airstrip on the North-Eastern corner, along with the island's town. The presence of a permanent security team at the Detention Centre gives Claus the means of ensuring his privacy, while the proximity of the air-strip to the town means that few people need to travel anywhere near his private sanctuary. As time goes on, and the immigration problem settles down, Santa will ensure that his island quietly slips out of the news and back into obscurity.

Easter Bunny, on the other hand, has little need for security, with Easter Island being placed very conveniently in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, West of South America, remote and small enough to discourage major development. It is situated slightly further South of the equator than Santa Claus' private retreat, but still close enough to be warm all year round. The major attraction on the island for Bunny, was what it DOESN'T have. Trees. Rabbits have no need for trees, and the absence of them allows for more grass, which suits Bunny very well.
Bunny uses his island as a holiday resort for the many rabbits who work for his corporation, as well as making it his private retreat.

Although this History is essentially about Santa Claus and Easter Bunny, it is worthwhile taking a slight detour to illustrate just how remarkable the success of these two has been. Why has no other entity or deity made a successful entry into the world of business? Surely there must be others that wish to have the fame and wealth that these two have garnered? Well, there are. Several mythical beings have attempted to crack the market at different points in history, but only one has made a reasonable success of it, and even then he required the assistance of one of the Big Two.

In the late 1970's, the being known as Echo, felt that the time was right to make a move in the area of his own speciality; Sound. Echo approached Bunny for help in making a move into the music industry, and bunny loaned him several staffers who specialised in the field. In 1978, Echo and the Bunnymen released their first album.
Although never approaching the success of the other two entities on the world stage, Echo has, with the help of the Bunny's men, managed to forge a public presence of some note. He will never threaten their supremacy, and in fact it looks as though Echo may be fading from the music scene, with fewer record releases, and a shrinking chart presence. It may be that Echo may soon disappear entirely. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that this is the only other example of an entity from folklore entering the real world with any success.

Meanwhile, Santa and Bunny seem to have settled into a form of semi-retirement, allowing their respective businesses to run themselves to a large degree. Bunny, in particular has not produced any major innovations for some years now. Santa has Christmas down to a fine art, that requires little interference, apart of course, from his regular investment in the motion picture industry. Every year a new crop of Santa movies is released, maintaining Santa's high profile, and maintaining his revenue stream through DVD sales and appearance royalties.

So it stands in the present day, with two Giants of industry standing astride the world, each a product of hard work, planning, canny investment, and the public's willingness to believe. What does the future hold for these two successful businessman? There can be little doubt that for Santa's future, it looks like it will be Christmas every day, while Bunny seems perfectly happy with his decision to put all his eggs in one basket.

Santa and The Bunny, A Modern History- PART TWO

This is Part Two of the Story, please Read Part one to gain a full perspective.

After deciding that the European markets had been destroyed by World War One, Santa decided to move operations to the American continent, and so, sometime in 1919, the now sizeable corporation based itself in Canada. This location was for two reasons.
Firstly, as a Commonwealth country, it was easy to transfer direct from Scotland to Canada, thereby avoiding difficult U.S. immigration procedures.
Secondly, the large wilderness areas of the Canadian back-country, gave ample privacy, while the close proximity of the border allowed easy access to the massive American market and manufacturing facilities, which were, by now, an absolute necessity to the continuation of the success of Claus Enterprises.

Almost immediately after settling in the new location, a great windfall occurred, with the United States declaring Prohibition in 1920. The immediate ban on the sale of alcohol meant that anyone who wanted to drink booze had to obtain it illegally from overseas or make it themselves. In the Southern States this gave rise to the "moonshiners", with their home distilled alcohol, while in the North, there was a massive demand for liquor smuggled from, you guessed it, Canada.

Naturally, U.S. authorities immediately set up stringent controls on the borders to stop the illegal trade, but organised crime syndicates utilised the Great Lakes and high powered speed boats to run the gauntlet of United States Coast Guard patrol boats, and thereby continue supply to their markets in the United States.
How did this benefit Santa Claus? Well, at a time when the war on alcohol was being fought on land and water, Santa owned a flying sleigh which could carry large quantities of almost anything.

So in the "off-season", when he was not importing from the factories South of the Canadian border, Santa raised extra revenue by exporting to the U.S. on a regular basis. This additional income stood him in good stead when the Great Depression struck in 1929, and the Christmas market suddenly crashed through the floor. The sales of expensive toys dropped dramatically, and had it not been for the extensive cash reserves held by Clause Enterprises, the whole operation may well have gone under. As it was, the company survived, but even so, Santa had to resort to appearing in advertisements for other companies in order to maintain cash-flow.

In the 1930's, successful soft-drink manufacturer Coca-Cola, approached Santa Claus, with the offer to appear in a number of print advertisements promoting their product. The money was too good to pass up, so Santa agreed, and even accepted the condition that he must wear a suit that showed Coca-colas corporate colour scheme.The advertisements were so successful, that he become identified with the red and white uniform and has retained it ever since.
It is also interesting that this is the first time we see the effects of "good living" in the appearance of S. Claus, with significant weight gain, and evidence of his fondness for Scotch whiskey showing in his red nose and flushed cheeks.

From this point, for at least 50 years, Santa's image was to remain unaltered, for the most part.
When World War Two, broke out in 1939, Claus Enterprises, safely insulated away from the conflict, suffered little economic setback. The rationing and conflict on the European Continent meant a reduction of his overall market, but the growth of the U.S. economy, through the manufacture of military equipment, compensated somewhat for this. Overall, Santa was little affected by the war, especially when comparing with World War 1.

It was just after the Second World War that Santa's only real rival began to make his presence felt.
Easter Bunny had, like Santa Claus, been around for centuries. Unlike Claus, Bunny had not had the opportunities which Claus had been able to exploit. Easter is not traditionally a gift-giving season. It tends to be more serious, and the presence of Bunny as an icon was almost purely as a symbol of fertility, rather than as an entity or personality in his own right. As a result, Easter remained almost completely a religious holiday, with the exception of a rabbit distributing painted eggs for children to discover on Easter morning.The turning point came for Easter Bunny with the end of war-time rationing and the beginning of mass production of....chocolate.

The secret of all smart business people is the ability to recognise a trend before it actually happens, and Bunny had been looking for such a trend for a long time. He had studied Santa Claus' operation closely, and when he saw the potential in mass production of an inexpensive, easily transportable commodity that everybody, adults and children, liked, he moved quickly to make sure it was associated with his operation.
Wrapping thousands of chocolate eggs (his traditional symbol at Easter), in brightly coloured foil, (emulating the hand-painted, traditional eggs), he instantaneously changed the focus of Easter Morning from an Easter Egg hunt, to eating chocolate. Suddenly, the Easter Bunny was very important to everyone's idea of Easter.

Showing that he had studied his competitor well, Bunny emulated the professionalism of Santa Claus, and grew a business into a wealthy enterprise. Unlike his more established counterpart, Bunny has not diversified his product very much at all, preferring to keep chocolate as the central theme, and only allowing small variations, such as the addition of chocolate rabbits to the range in addition to the eggs, and even then, all manufacturers pay a royalty for the use of Bunny's image on the product. Toys and books, while gaining popularity, are still strictly a sideline. Despite this narrow marketing, Bunny has proven that minimal diversity equals reduced production costs and a more streamlined transportation/delivery network.For instance, every Christmas, Claus Enterprises hires tens of thousands of Santas, each of whom has to be outfitted and trained in mannerisms, speech patterns and protocol. Easter Bunny pays rabbits to deliver, end of story.

Santa and Bunny each grew their businesses through the 50's, 60's and 70's, watching each other but not worrying too much, as they were parallel businesses, each not affecting the others' market. In fact Santa was not too concerned at all by the Easter Bunny, as the timing of Easter, a scant 3-4 months after Christmas, meant that Santa still scored the lion's share of the market. The massive production costs of Santa's operations, with it's huge diversity of gifts and bulky nature of presents, was beginning to tell on Santa's profits, however. Especially with American manufacturing becoming more expensive and being undercut by first Japanese, then Taiwanese and Chinese factories. In early 1980, seeing the writing on the wall, Santa decided to move operations once again, and headed for Asia.

END OF PART TWO 

Santa and The Bunny, A Modern History....PART ONE

Everyone knows the history of Santa Claus. Thousands of words have been written about his rise from a collection of ancient myths, into an amalgamation that became the character that we now know as Santa Claus. There are even a few thumb-nail sketches of his progress through to the modern day.

This is not the full story. Why is there a sudden and abrupt cessation of information about Santa, from the early 18th century until today? Why is there so little detail about his activities and operations?
After considerable research, and the unearthing of a large number of hidden files, I am now able to give the history of Santa Claus, from the 1800's to the present day. It is lengthy, it is detailed and comprehensive, and yet I have still found it necessary to edit extensively, and present this story in several parts. Included in the latter parts will be a brief history of Santas' nearest and greatest rival, a being whose success also demands recognition.

Please Read On;

Indulge me for a while, and let's just pretend that in the mid-19th century, somewhere in London, the ancient and immortal Santa Claus sits alone in a small room in a boarding house. An amalgamation of several ancient myths from around the globe, over the centuries enough belief has been placed in the idea of Saint Nicholas, that he has been able to become a real entity. But it is not enough. Santa wants more than just existence...he wants power...and recognition...and wealth. So he has travelled to London, capital city of the largest, most powerful empire ever seen, in order to make his fortune.

It is not an unusual story, people have always flocked to the centre of power to try and make their fortunes, but S. Claus has happened upon a unique set of circumstances which will change the way the Western world will experience Christmas forever. You see, this is not just London, capital of an empire; it is the financial hub of the world at this time, it is very wealthy. It is also the largest city in a country which is leading the world in the Industrial Revolution, and very intelligent people are everywhere.

We have been unable to determine exactly how the idea came about, but presumably Mr Claus engaged the services of some kind of advertising agency, or even a personal advisor of some sort, who came up with the brilliant tool which launched the career of an aging, fading demi-god into outer-space. Claus himself did not come up with the idea, because if had been able to think of something so brilliant, he would have surely tried it before now.

Consider this: You are in the business of providing gifts for children. Trouble is; not many children, and even fewer adults believe in you, so you have a very small audience. What you need is for children and their parents to suddenly think you are real. You are in London. You need children. You need to be validated. You need respectability.

The cost is unknown, but it must have been substantial, possibly using up almost all of the reserve savings Santa Claus had put aside for next Christmas, but it was the investment of a lifetime. How much did it cost to get the editor of the largest, most respected newspaper in the largest, most powerful city, in the largest most far-flung empire in the world, to sit down and write, in response to a letter SUPPOSEDLY from a small girl; "Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus..."?
The career of S. Claus has never looked back.

Allow me, for one moment, to digress. This essay is not going to address the religious significance of either of the holidays which these two businessman exploit so adroitly. I acknowledge that each holiday has a pre-existing religious significance, perhaps dating back to truly ancient times. This is not in question. I intend to focus purely on the economic activities of two opportunists and the successful exploitation of millions of people.

Moving on;
Throughout the late 19th century, Santa grew his brand name on the reputation established by the letter to the Times, and various follow-up campaigns, such as the commissioning of post-cards to be sent at Christmas time, and various sponsorships, in which Santa pushed the image of the jovial, kindly gift-bringer, distancing himself from his earlier, sterner image, (particularly in Scandinavian and Eastern European countries), where he would reward "good" children, while punishing "bad" children. Naturally, Santa ensured that royalty payments were enforced for the use of his image on all advertisements and post-cards.

Early Santa, punishing bad children

Early image of S. Claus as a less "jovial " figure.

Postcard of Santa , early 20th Cent.

It was around this time that Claus relocated his operations from the North Pole, (his traditional home), to the highlands of Scotland, a move triggered by several factors. Firstly, with a keen eye on the massive industrialisation of the North of England, he realised that manufacturing could be done faster and cheaper, with reduced transportation costs, if he had his operations nearby. It also freed up his elf work-force, no longer required to hand-make limited numbers of toys, so they could now handle logistics, publicity, debt-collection, and all the other requirements of running a growing corporation.

 Secondly, the Age of Exploration was intruding on his privacy, with more and more expeditions to the North Pole making secrecy very difficult. As we shall see, secrecy is a major priority for the Claus empire. Thirdly, it appears that the continued growth of Santas' career and personal wealth had enabled him to begin to enjoy the finer things in life, and a taste for fine Scotch whiskey was one of those things. Moving to the Highlands seemed logical in this instance. Incidentally, Santa's success was also adding to his waistline and his blood pressure, a factor which would later force an image change for the quite literally growing corporate giant.

The advent of the Twentieth Century, and continued growth in prosperity in Britain, ensured further growth for the Claus Corporation, which enabled it to look at diversifying into other brand images.
Mrs Claus began to make more appearances, although always in a secondary role to her husband, and the reindeer and sleigh, (first mentioned almost a century before in the poem "The Night Before Christmas"), were gradually pushed into the picture to complete the image of a modern Santa.

Mr & Mrs Claus

Naturally, licencing of images and appropriate royalty deals were set up to generate income for the company.

In 1914, a major setback occurred with the outbreak of World War 1. The massive loss of life and general trauma inflicted upon Europe was too great for even Santa Claus to overcome, although, to his credit, he did great work among the poor and families of soldiers, and even visited the Front Line, particularly early in the war, to try and bring cheer to both sides. By the end of 1917, however, it was clear that Europe, including Britain, had spent all its' reserves on the war, and if he were to continue to prosper, a move must be made.
So Santa Claus set his sights on the growing economic juggernaut that was the United States.

END OF PART ONE

Australia, teetering....

It is always interesting to see how different nations handle certain situations that occur, whether it be inside their borders or externally.
Some nations are so level headed that it is quite disturbing. Scandinavian nations like Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and so on, just seem to have this supernatural form of calmness which is applied to each and every problem which arises. They are the ultimate Good Neighbour States. They are up to date with their membership payments to the United Nations (Yes, children, you have to pay if you are a member, although the United States has been as much as $1.18 BILLION in arrears as recently as November 2010, but Mr Obama says it will be up to date by the time he leaves office). I digress.
These nations are the ones that handle any storm; a mass shooting, the worst since World War 2? Have a trial, put him away. There doesn't seem to be the same hysteria you would find in, let's say,...Egypt, where this sort of thing could topple a government.

Personally speaking, I tend to attribute this sort of behaviour to a kind of National Personality. This is the kind of thing which gives certain countries a particular mind-set in dealing with the world.

Obviously I am going to make sweeping generalisations here, with no data to back it up, but I hope you will try and follow my argument....

Scandinavians tend to be patient, moral, tolerant (on the whole), and self-controlled.
Latin Americans are passionate, impulsive, demonstrative, and emotional.
Mediterranean nations can be similar to Latin Americans, but are more conservative and also very protective of their personal freedoms.

These are just a few examples, but I hope I have made my point. Most nations have a particular kind of personality, by and large.

Which brings me to the lunatics.

Certain nations are so NUTS that their actions are a little hard to explain. They are not necessarily evil (although some can be), nor are they necessarily out of control (again, some can be).
What they are can only be explained by one word, and when you look at which nations have this condition, you may be surprised.
They are PARANOID.
Let me explain...

The Oxford English dictionary defines paranoia (in part), as;
"a mental condition characterised by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically worked into an organised system..."

I believe the United States of America is paranoid.
Here's why I think they are....
"..delusions of persecution, ...jealousy...self-importance...in an organised system.."

The U.S. fights regularly in far-away countries to protect "American interests".
But guys...they are FAR AWAY.
They might be owned by U.S. companies, but doesn't that make them interests of the company, not the nation? And how sensitive do you have to be to feel jealous about someone doing something on the other side of the world that you don't like? A bit too sensitive, maybe? Perhaps to the point of being  delusionally persecuted, perhaps??

If you are the most powerful nation on the planet, (and militarily, the U.S. has a combined armed forces budget larger than the next three largest COMBINED), then what the Hell are you afraid of??
I have no problem with humanitarian missions of force, but it does seem a bit coincidental that all those missions only happen in oil-rich nations, while Africa and Asia can see Genocide time and again, without a single U.S. soldier being seen anywhere near the place.

Now to the "organised system".
The political system in Washington is geared to keeping the United States "strong", at the "forefront of World Peace", and upholding American values. What this really means is that it is desperately trying to hold on to it's position as world leader, at a time when other nations, like China and India, are over-taking it. So, rather than admit defeat, it is claiming that everyone is picking on them.Terrorists are out to get them, so more force is required overseas. American interests in the Global Economy are being undermined, so trade treaties favouring the U.S. over it's trading partners must be put in place.Pacific Regional Security is under threat from China, so more troops are needed in the Philippines and Australia, Domestic Security is under threat from "home-grown" terrorists, so all phone records, text messages, e-mails and internet traffic is to be recorded and kept, so that if there is an attack, they can go back and track it down to a particular person way back when.

Sorry guys....that's a bit paranoid, to me at least....

I can understand why they could have been paranoid in the early days...just broke free of one of the greatest powers on earth at the time. Huge country and no real armed forces. Other great powers, like Spain and France sniffing around, ready to try and take over.
Yes I can understand paranoia then...but why now?

Paranoid people, and nations are obsessed with persecution. A paranoid nation will do its best to have as big a buffer between itself and any potential enemy as possible.
Israel is a paranoid State. Rightly so, too...it has many enemies on 3 sides, and an ocean on the other. It acts like any paranoid...it attacks at the slightest provocation, it seeks to push the enemy away from its borders to create a buffer.
Russia is paranoid, and its leader especially so. Yes it wants Crimea for it's wealth and historical Russian ownership, but it would really like the whole Ukraine as a buffer between itself and NATO. Remember, Ukraine was asking for NATO membership....right on Russia's border.
Australia has traditionally had a very low paranoia level. We didn't have to fight a war to be recognised. We were reasonably egalitarian to begin with, and we were large enough and wealthy enough to not feel threatened by migration. That is now changing.
Australians are beginning to resent the influx of foreigners in a way not seen since the Vietnam War caused a wave of refugees to suddenly seek us out as a future home. This is because we are now not so sure of our own future. Our jobs are dwindling, industry is dying, our politicians are not giving us positive visions of the future, only pictures of doom if we vote for their opponents.
It is up to US, the people of Australia, to build a future for ourselves. We are now in the same position as we were in the early 1950's. We have a growing population, fuelled by immigrants, just like after WW2. We are smart, wealthy as a nation, and we can make things better. We have proven it time and time again.
What we lack is politicians with guts, right across the spectrum, who are willing to go beyond what is safe, and push Australia away from the paranoia of holding on to our position in the past, and take us into a scary, but maybe exciting future.

I would rather do that than sit behind barbed wire in our little fortress, and continue to tell ourselves how safe we are and how great we used to be....