He’s Jolly, Sure. But Should We Trust Santa?
Santa! Everyone loves the idea of him, right? Everyone likes the presents he brings, the stories he tells, the jingle of reindeer bells, the giggle of elves. But we’re not sure everyone actually trusts him.
This December, we released our new trust marketing tool, The Infinite Edge Trust Assessment. It’s a quick and free way to quantify the current state of your brand trust. If your score is high, you’re good to launch your next campaign. But if your score is low, you’d better not pout, and we’re telling you why: scanty sales are comin’ to town.
Using our five trust vectors as a guide, let’s put Santa to the test and see how he does.
1. Existential Trust: Does Santa Exist?
The first measure of trust is EXISTENTIAL and the question it answers is “Will you be here for me tomorrow?” Well, we know Santa won’t be here for us tomorrow. He only comes on Christmas Eve, but we can’t ding him for that, because his job description has him hard at work in his workshop the other 364 days. Still, it would be reassuring to hear from him now and again to let us all know how he and the crew are doing.
On the plus side, his legend spans centuries and reaches all the way across the western world. His face is plastered on every possible medium from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and many legends have been told about his exploits (kissing Mommies from coast to coast, delivering to remote locations without GPS, immortality, and a super-powered memory for individual children’s wishes.) When you think about it, if he didn’t exist, how would EVERYONE know what he looks like, down to the cherry cheeks and the white fur trim on his jacket?
The data may give us some insights. Millions of young children believe, desperately, in Santa. Older kids pretend to believe, afraid they will get fewer presents if they let on that their friends are talking smack about Santa. I mean, how does a man with a jelly belly fit down the chimney? And what does he do when the house has no chimney? And why does he look different every time he shows up at the Mall? And how can he be at every Mall at the same time? Magic is a fine explanation for little kids, but older kids are no fools.
The disappointment we feel at age 8-ish when one of our parents (the one who drew the short straw) finally admits that THEY are the ones buying presents, is usually the first huge letdown our parents deliver.
“According to Professor Chris Boyle, from the University of Exeter, UK, a third of those surveyed reporting feeling upset when they discovered Santa wasn't real, while 15% had felt betrayed by their parents and 10% felt angry. Around a third (30%) also said that their trust in adults had been affected by their belief in Father Christmas.”
No wonder our teenage years are fraught with messy rooms and sullen bouts of silence. Why bother being good, after all, if it’s all a sham? The explosion of the Santa myth makes young adults mistrust everything they’ve ever learned. I wonder if this sudden onset of betrayal and cynicism may account for some people’s willingness to question scientists and other authority figures and believe, instead, in conspiracy theories and fantastical misinformation. (There is absolutely no evidence that this last sentence is true, but, just saying, the existential Santa betrayal makes a deep impression on tender, young minds.)
I think it’s safe to say that existential trust is not one of Santa’s strong suits, although his traditional red suit is awesome, if a little warm for some parts of the world.
2. Intentional Trust: Does Santa really care about ME?
Or is he just fulfilling some contract he agreed to long ago? Is he the benevolent deliverer of exceptional gifts or just a convenient threat parents hold over kids’ heads to get them to behave? And does he really check his list twice? Because something happened to me that made me distrust him for many years.
I vividly remember asking for a bow and arrow set. It was all I could talk about in the months leading up to The Big Day. Christmas dawned, and we three kids padded downstairs in our zip-up footed PJs, and yes! There was a bow and arrow under the tree…but it was in my sister’s pile. I couldn’t believe it! How could Santa have gotten it so wrong? My mother said I had to put it down and stop bawling…that I could use it only if my little sister said I could, and knowing her, that wasn’t going to be often. What a miserable Christmas that was.*
So, what are Santa’s intentions? Children who sit on his lap trust him with their deepest desires. But he doesn’t even pretend to take notes, he doesn’t send a confirmatory email, and if he gets it wrong, there are no returns, no refunds, and no one to answer the phone to make an exchange.
All year long, kids trust that Santa’s elves are hard at work making the toys they wish most to play with. They write him letters, remember him in their evening prayers, and on Christmas Eve, they go to bed early without a fuss and stay awake for as long as they can, listening for the sound of hooves on the roof. All on blind faith.
By my accounts, Santa fails the intentional test, because we just don’t know what his intentions are. Is he a selfless grandpa figure or a stern judge who leaves coal in stockings of kids who act up, or someone who gives your intended gift to your sister? We may never know. That’s enough to score below average on the Intentional Trust scale, in my book.
3. Reputational Trust. What does Santa stand for?
OK, here’s where Santa—the one we believe in here in the States—shines. He’s got a reputation that just won’t quit, and by all accounts, he’s a good guy and a hard worker. A jolly fellow, who laughs easily in his distinctive Ho, Ho, Ho cadence, he appears to be a fair and kind boss to his elves and his reindeer.
Mrs. Claus appears to love him, in a vague, fond way, although rumor has it, she’s in menopause and things seem to be heating up, in a literal sense. Also, when Grandma got run over by a reindeer a scandal erupted that rocked the foundation of the whole North Pole enterprise.
Since then, Santa has shied away from the public eye and let his work ethic speak for itself. He hasn’t missed a single Christmas Eve for centuries, and while there are anecdotal reports of failure to deliver, most of these have been attributed to parents who were too drunk to remember to open the chimney damper or leave a window ajar.
What does Santa stand for? What is his reputation based on? Generosity. Humility. Kindness, especially to children and pets. (That’s why dogs and cats don’t make a peep when he enters. They know how to keep a secret.)
I’d give him a near 100% score on reputation and chalk up the occasional glitch to human error.
4. Factual Trust. Does Santa deliver a consistent message, and does he speak the truth?
As we’ve already mentioned, Santa doesn’t do pressers. He doesn’t blog or Tik Tok, and his Facebook and Twitter accounts are run by scammers, trying to make a quick buck. So the facts are all hearsay, fantasy stories, poems, carols, and the imaginations of underpaid screenwriters.
Inconsistencies abound. In Norway, he’s a “she.” In Iceland there are 12 Yule Lads, each more mischievous than the next. In Russia, Grandfather Frost delivers gifts to children, not on Christmas, but on New Years Day. In Holland, Sinterklass rides a white horse.
Without a unifying story to tell, Santa Claus has no cohesive brand look, feel, or messaging. He’s all over the place. Literally.
And so, I must give him a failing grade on Factual Trust. Sorry, Santa.
5. Committed Trust. Does Santa deserve our loyalty?
OK, this one’s easy. Yes. He has earned high scores on Committed Trust for centuries. And despite his lack of transparency and the subsequent inconsistencies in the stories people tell about him, he’s here to stay. We love him for that. We love his gentle nature, his compassion for Rudolph, his unending efforts to make children happy, and the adorable way he pretends to pick his nose.
He shows up like a favorite uncle, year after year, to brighten the giving season and inspire freshly-minted Christmas songs.
Sure, his very existence is in question, his intentions are murky, and the facts don’t always line up, but hey, his legend is…well, legendary, his reputation is unimpeachable, and Christmas wouldn’t be the same without him.
Take the assessment yourself, and see if your brand is more (or less) trustworthy than Santa Claus.
*Years later, no longer a believer, but still carrying around the emotional scars from that day, I asked my Mother to explain. She said, my pile had looked larger than my Sister’s, so she had moved some things around. Not acceptable!
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