I might be a buzzkill for writing this, but something seems wrong about the recent depictions of Santa. CAUTION! This post is for adults and not for little ones awaiting his arrival on Christmas Eve. You were warned.

After I watched The Christmas Chronicles with Kurt Russell, I noticed a disturbing trend. Kurt Russell is an A-lister when it comes to his rugged good looks. He was coined a “macho thespian” in a UPROXX post written about the realistic nature of his facial hair as the man in the red suit. I’m not exactly sure where it started, but the movie’s popularity paved the way for a new identity for our bearded toy-toting figure.

If there’s money to make, retailers will find it. Since Kurt’s epic came out in 2018 and again in 2020, Santa was reinvented a few times. The jolly old man whose tummy shook like a bowl full of jelly succumbed to the desires of modern times. One who’d prefer to speed down a snowy highway in a red SUV instead of a sleigh. This year’s Target commercial depicted Santa as a young dude in a tight red sweater putting on a name badge emblazoned with the name “Kris K.” Other employees caught him doing “treecep” curls while holding a fake Christmas tree, “I’m getting into shape!” He went on to explain himself and almost blew his cover. Reviews online called him “the weirdly hot Santa.”

I preferred Kurt Russell’s version and enjoyed John Travolta’s Holiday Night Fever for Capital One. He looked more like the traditional Santa with hair as white as snow above a pair of red disco pants. More for my generation, I guess.

Kris Kringle was a big part of retail marketing for many years. If you’re old enough you might remember Santa holding a bottle of soda or smoking cigarettes in magazine ads. Yikes! Coke faced criticism online for fattening him up in earlier decades, but Target managed to slim him down into a youthful physically fit variety.

It’s only a commercial. I get it. If I don’t like it, I can click on something else. Well, I’ll go even further, I won’t spend my money. But based on my line of work, it’s not surprising that my radar is focused on advertisers that toy with Santa’s waistline. The young and impressionable are always watching.

In the age of Wegovy, there’s a lot that concerns me. Weight loss received way too much attention this year. Research that proves losing weight isn’t the best way to attain good health doesn’t make headlines. The truth about weight gain after dieting gets overshadowed by even more weight loss chatter. Santa’s athletic build as a Target employee seems too coincidental as he’s now a symbol to further the agenda of a certain body standard.

Many of us are generally unhappy with our looks, and St. Nick isn’t immune to the similar harsh criticism we give ourselves. According to some posts I’ve read online, he gets a bad rap for getting fat from eating way too many cookies. His rosy cheeks and large girth are solid evidence he’s had too much to drink and is out of shape to descend chimneys let alone travel the world in one night. One blog writer didn’t see a problem with urging him to adopt a healthier lifestyle which we all know only makes people feel worse. The blog didn’t make much of a case for including all body types and fitness levels.

The real buzzkill is dieting. We’ve forgotten how to relax and enjoy ourselves without the constant pressure to achieve that standard ideal. Diet talk is at epidemic levels as far as I’m concerned. Regularly I hear others declare, “Don’t eat so much sugar,” while projecting their insecurities on other folks. It crushes me to listen to a parent criticize their child’s weight. What a bummer. Such negativity is cruel especially when most kids seek parental approval.

The desire for perfection hurts everyone. How do you stop it, or at the very least, slow down how it affects our feelings and actions? We can control how we spend our money, but more importantly, we should examine how we respond to the messages we receive from those around us.

Whether you’re the pillar of health or not, you always have a choice. This belief can significantly change how you react to something you hear— in a good way. The holidays can be miserable, or you can set out to do something meaningful despite your feelings.

You don’t have control over what other people do or say. Inevitably someone will say something that upsets you or they will judge your looks or the food you eat. It might even be someone close to you. You can’t stop the world if you feel offended by someone, but you do have the right to your boundaries.

There’s nothing wrong with a little indulgence while celebrating. It’s expected. The problem is the overuse of indulgence to numb, cope, or harm yourself. It’s easy to do in plain sight while everyone else is having a good time. But only you get to decide what you consume and how much. Deep down inside you’ll know when it’s enough.

People who are unsure often ask me what they should eat. The conversation starts with, “Oh you’re the dietitian…” They fail to see that if they put their health above what the scale reads and their desire to please others, they already know plenty about how to nourish themselves. It’s not rocket science. The path to good health includes becoming aware of what’s happening inside, and not judging what’s on the outside. The goal of health often gets confused with what appears in the mirror. Retailers use it to their advantage.

I’m not out to control retailers or the media. My mission is to bring awareness during this time of year by acknowledging the struggles of others. It’s not always easy to see how selling goods and services can come with unrealistic expectations. I’m not the only one who feels bombarded with these messages.

Christmas comes once a year. Whether you celebrate or not, let’s agree to put aside the harsh judgment of ourselves and others. Commercials encourage us to be more self-centered than we intend to be. The nature of increasing brand awareness by repetition influences our actions without us realizing it. Viewing screens are everywhere we go and even in our hands. Let’s have a day without them. Turn them all off. January will be here before you know it.

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