During this over commercialized Holiday season, who’s a better advertising pitch man than Santa? Everyone loves him right? Of course you do. Ok maybe if you’re and old school guy from Philly, you may have thrown a snow ball at him while attending an Eagles game, but you still love the old guy. This time of year the Santa ads keep coming and coming and coming.

I know a guy who looks just like him. Doesn’t everyone? Almost everyone?

The issue is that advertisers don’t know when to say when. We know his connection to Coca-Cola, hence the red suit and white beard. But can there really be a viable connection to other brands?

Chevy uses him sans suit as a salesperson at a dealership. How many folks get Chevys for holiday gifts? How many even want Chevys as holiday gifts?

And let’s not forget the implied gift of Lexus cars with bows on them. I might be happy to receive a Lexus as a holiday gift, but the big red bow kills it for me.

Santa really should be for kids only and not tied to a particular gift or brand. It just ruins the image. And it says, quite clearly, that neither the brand nor its agency has a better idea to help raise awareness of the product. And that’s sad.

I’m going to get down off of my soapbox now. I’ve got another Holiday ad to write. Let’s see, who should I use as my pitch guy. Nope, I’m not going to do it. It’s time to keep holiday ads festive and leave the old boy out of it. I think we can come up with other ways to sell gifts. After all we’re suppose to be creative aren’t we.