Tattoos and a hoverboard? Santa gets a modern makeover
Step aside flannel outfit, and make way for skinny jeans. Father Christmas fans thinks he's in dire need of rebranding.
Will a hoverboard and a new hairdo make Santa cooler or just sort of sad?
For generations, Santa has been depicted as a jolly old man with a big belly, long white beard, red and white flannel outfit and signature flying-reindeer-led sleigh full of presents.
But what would Santa look like if he got a modern makeover?
Logo maker company GraphicSprings conducted an informal survey asking for ideas on how to rebrand Santa with the latest fashion trends and gadgets. Then 4,000 people in the UK and US voted on a selection of popular responses in a wider survey.
One of the more drastic suggestions was to give Santa a hipster winter wardrobe that included skinny jeans, sneakers and a new stylish hairdo (thankfully, no man bun). An impressive 20 percent thought Santa should get some cool tattoos.
There were also quite a few suggestions on how to make Father Christmas more tech-savvy, with 23 percent saying he should own a smartphone and another 23 percent suggesting he should use Amazon Prime for gift giving.
Over a third of survey respondents wanted to upgrade Santa's mode of transportation, with 22 percent saying he should swap his iconic sleigh for a flying car.
Another 17 percent said Santa should invest in a hoverboard -- preferably not one of those that randomly catches fire.
But before holiday purists get too upset by these attempts to transform Saint Nicholas into a trendy tastemaker, over half of those surveyed thought Santa was just fine the way he's been for ages.
"While people had some great ideas on how they would rebrand Santa, it's perhaps not surprising that most people love him just the way he is," Evan Fraser, a spokesman for GraphicSprings said in a statement. "In fact, 68 percent of those who took part in the survey said they wouldn't change Santa at all."
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