Do you love Santa? Or do you hate him for his role in the commercialization of Christmas? I’m torn.
I’ve played Santa for our neighbors’ kids the last three years. I don’t have his beard or build, but the suit works.
Their kids haven’t realized it’s me, and though I have to sneak away from my kids for 20 minutes, it’s one of the highlights of my Christmas Eve.
Being Santa got me to thinking about the impact he has on commerce during the holidays.
Here are some interesting stats from a recent San Francisco Chronicle article, Santa Claus, Inc.
- Typical regional mall revenue from photo-with-Santa sales: $400,000
- Average number of full-time Santas per mall: 2
- Average height: 5 feet, 9.7 inches
- Average weight: 257.89 pounds
- Average salary for a real-bearded mall Santa (for about 5 weeks): $8,000
- Average number of child visits to Santa per mall: 7,829
- Average number of paid photos with Santa per mall: 4,633
- When I see numbers like this, Santa feels, so, well, commercial.What do you think about Santa?
