It’s Not Santa Claus Who Makes the Holiday Magic Happen

It’s women’s invisible and often underappreciated labour

Image licensed from Shutterstock

In a new Christmas ad from British health retailer Boots, it’s Mrs Claus — played by actress Adjoa Andoh — who takes centre stage, working hard to prepare for the holidays with the help of a team of elves. Meanwhile, her husband, Santa, is shown snoozing peacefully in front of the fire.

The advert ends with Mrs Claus turning to the camera with a smirk and saying: ‘You thought it was all him?’.

Perhaps predictably, this reimagining of what goes on behind the scenes at Santa’s workshop stirred up quite a bit of controversy. Far-right group Britain First even launched a petition urging followers to boycott Boots over the ad, denouncing it as ‘woke’ and accusing it of undermining ‘traditional gender norms and the traditional Christian family.’

But the campaign doesn’t so much challenge gender norms as it highlights a broader truth about how they manifest during Christmas and other holidays — the holiday ‘magic’ we take for granted or attribute to mythical figures like Santa Claus, elves, the Easter Bunny or tooth fairies, is simply the result of the invisible and often underappreciated labour of women. That’s all the gift-purchasing and gift-wrapping and card-sending and food shopping…