Wednesday, 13 August 2014

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




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